Return of the Ninja Librarian
by quistie64
Summary: Priority one for Team Bartowski is to get the Intersect out of Morgan's head.  This will require the assistance of a certain ninja librarian, not a rubber mallet.  Begins at the end of "Chuck vs. the Cliffhanger."
1. Chapter 1 Drinking from a Fire Hose

**A/N**: This is a sequel to my story **Chuck vs. the Ninja Librarian**. If you haven't already read it and a couple of my other stories, you might want to do so before reading this one. Check the order on my profile page. It is not a requirement to do so to follow this one, but it will make this story more fun if you know the background.

This story begins two days after "Chuck vs. the Cliffhanger" (episode 4.24). The team's number one priority is to get the Intersect out of Morgan's head.

Thanks to **coreymon77** who read the first draft. Revisions have been made since then, so all boo-boos are my own.

Standard disclaimer: Don't own Chuck, etc. Oh, and of course, please review.

**Chapter 1 – Drinking from a Fire Hose**

Morgan Grimes struggled to get his breathing under control so as not to give away his position. He thought he was under a staircase, but he wasn't really sure. It was as dark as a cave and he would have sworn he was blind if not for the sliver of light his eyes fixed upon. He put his hands out and stepped forward cautiously in an attempt to find his way to a wall. It was like playing Blind's Man Bluff. He never liked that stupid game. He turned his head this way and that, listening intently, trying to pinpoint the position of his adversary. He had no tactical gear to help him, not even comms or night vision goggles. Or even something as conventional as a flashlight. He was completely on his own. Well, he did have the Intersect he accidentally downloaded a couple of days ago. But that was turning out to be not very helpful. Using the Intersect was a lot harder than Chuck Bartowski ever made it seem when he had it in his head. In his current predicament, he would have been much better off with the tactical equipment.

A trickle of sweat traced down his forehead and into one eye, making it burn. He swiped his arm across both eyes in a vain attempt to stop the sting. Wet with perspiration, his shirt stuck to his body. He was truly on his own since he knew Chuck and Sarah were around somewhere, but were in no position to help him. _What would Rambo do?_ he wondered. _Or John McCain from Die Hard. No, wait. That wasn't right. John McCain is the senator from Arizona who ran for president a few years ago. What was Bruce Willis' character's name? Oh, wait!_ Now he remembered. _It was John McClane. Well, that's just confusing._ He shook his head when he realized his brain had completely gone off on an unhelpful yet somewhat entertaining rabbit trail.

Focus. He had to focus. With his breathing now under control, he knew he had to do something. He couldn't stay in hiding forever and had run out of options. The decision was made. He was going to have to run for it.

He took deep breath in through his nose and let it out slowly, quietly, through his mouth. Creeping from his hiding place, he silently stole toward where he thought stood the door that held behind it his freedom. He shuffled around a corner and knew he was almost there. A grin started to grow on his face. He'd made it.

Or so he thought. His adversary sneaked up behind, reached around his torso and wrapped him in an incredibly strong bear hug. His foe's right hand gripped his fist left just below Morgan's sternum. The assailant stood up straight and easily lifted Morgan's feet off the ground.

Without any conscious prompting, Intersect images of various martial arts moves exploded in Morgan's brain. _I've got you now because I just flashed_, Morgan thought smugly.

He tried to raise his arms and grab his assailant around the back of the head, but they remained pinned helplessly at his sides. He swung his feet back trying to kick his attacker, but the man simply spread his feet wider apart, making Morgan's feet simply flail. _Maybe a head butt_, he thought and threw his head back in an attempt to hit the man in the face. Unfortunately for Morgan, his captor was much larger than he, so he only managed to hit the back of his head to the man's chest. That elicited an unsatisfying and faint "umpf". _If I could just get my feet on the ground, then I could take this guy out_, he was sure.

He struggled for another minute and the flash faded. He finally gave up and went limp. He was captured. _Crap_.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The lights in Castle flickered on and Chuck and Sarah walked into the main room. Casey still held Morgan in the undignified bear hug that left him immobilized.

"You can let him go now, Casey," Chuck said.

Casey's flashed a self-satisfied and somewhat evil grin. "That was fun," he snickered as he released his grasp. Morgan unceremoniously dropped to the floor but did manage to land on his feet.

"Well, that was an interesting experiment. Apparently, when faced with a much bigger and stronger opponent, for Morgan at least, the Intersect is not a lot of help," Chuck said. "Size does matter."

"That's what she said," Sarah mumbled.

Chuck sputtered and coughed, Morgan's eyes grew huge and Casey gave an amused grunt.

"What?" she asked, her face a picture of innocence, save the twinkle in her eye.

Chuck recovered enough to clear his throat and give her a wink. She quirked an eyebrow and shot him a lascivious smile. The hand she placed on the small of his back seemed to scorch through his shirt and cause his insides to liquefy. At his wife's simple touch, he nearly became nothing more than a big pile of tremulous goo on the floor.

A deep breath helped to steady him, but only just slightly. His legs were still a big wobbly as he continued, "The physical element of the Intersect 2.0 doesn't seem to work as well with a person of a more," he stopped for a moment as he tried to think of the right words, "diminutive stature."

Morgan hung his head glumly. He had accidentally downloaded the Intersect only two days before and was already a complete failure in trying to use it. They had been testing him and he had yet to use the Intersect effectively. The good news was that he could see the flashes of intelligence when appropriately triggered. The bad news was that he could only remember about half of what he saw in a flash when he tried to relay the information to them.

"Morgan, it's okay. It will just take awhile to get the hang of it," Sarah said, trying to be supportive.

He lifted his head and shook it slightly. He knew the truth. "No, it won't. I'm not cut out to have the Intersect," he replied matter-of-factly. "I appreciate the support, but let's get real. Dudes, this isn't going to work."

"So then, what do we do?" Sarah asked.

"We try to figure out a way to get it out of his head," Casey replied.

Panic flashed across Morgan's face. "What if we can't? What if I'm stuck with it? Do I need one of those special watches like you wear, Chuck?" He looked into their faces and was not comforted by the unsure looks he found. "Dudes, I'm starting to freak OUT here!"

Sarah walked over to Morgan and put a comforting hand on his arm. "Morgan, don't freak out. We'll get this all straightened out, won't we Chuck," giving her husband a pointed look.

"Yeah, of course, buddy," Chuck responded quickly. "We'll get it figured out. Trust us, okay?"

Morgan relaxed a little and smiled. "Yeah, your right. We'll get this figured out. We always do, right?" First he looked at Chuck and then at Sarah. "I mean, look what we were able to do to save you from that icky poison, Sarah. Face it. We're awesome."

Casey grunted as Sarah smiled fondly at him. She looked at Chuck and Casey and asked, "Do you mind if I speak with Morgan alone for a moment?"

Chuck and Casey looked at each other, shrugged and moved a small distance away. They watched while Sarah guided Morgan a few steps in the other direction.

"Morgan," Sarah started in a low voice, "I wanted to thank you for staying with me in the hospital when Chuck was out getting the antidote."

He jerked a little, and said sheepishly, "You heard me? I thought you were unconscious."

She shrugged, "I was…mostly," and then smiled, "I vaguely remember hearing a story about pants."

Morgan's eyes fell to the floor and a shy smile crossed his face. He shrugged and looked back up into her face, expectantly.

Her face became serious. "You said that Chuck never gives up. That part I remember for sure. I want you to know that I won't give up either. Neither will Casey. We'll do everything we can to help you with this," she said, gently tapping his head with her index finger, "whether it means getting it out of your head or helping you deal with it if it stays for awhile. We'll be here for you all the way, got it?" She looked at him right in the eye.

A huge smile of relief bloomed on his face, "Thanks, Mrs. B. I needed to hear that."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

While Morgan and Sarah had their little tete à tete, Chuck and Casey discussed what equipment and technologies they needed to buy in order to get Castle up and running. Originally, that had been their first priority, but Morgan's accidental Intersect download had changed that. Chuck and Sarah had already purchased new tactical equipment, and that was a huge step. That gear would do them no good, however, until Castle was equipped as well. They discussed the importance of acquiring what they needed as soon as possible. Their conversation stopped when Morgan and Sarah returned. Chuck asked, "Everything okay?" His face showed a mixture of curiosity and concern.

Sarah winked at Morgan and then looked at Chuck. "Everything's fine, sweetie." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

Morgan grinned back at Sarah and added, "Yup. No problems."

"So, you're not worried about having the Intersect in your head?" Casey bit off the word "moron" before it could escape.

"No," Morgan answered truthfully. "It's not like this is new to you all. Chuck's dealt with it for years. Granted, my brain isn't like Chuck's, but it will all work out," he finished confidently.

Chuck was both pleased and surprised at Morgan's calm. "Well, okay then. Casey and I were just discussing that our next priority is to get Castle back up and running," he started. "We can't do anything about getting the Intersect out of Morgan's head until we get our resources in place. Like I said the other day, we already bought a Gulfstream and tactical equipment. Now we need to get video equipment, computers, lots of weapons…"

"A refrigerator," Morgan interrupted. He looked at his team members and said, "What? I get hungry."

Casey grunted.

"Actually, Morgan, a fridge is a great idea," Chuck said.

Casey looked pointedly at each of them and said, "That's all great, getting all this stuff. What are we going to do with it? What's this big plan Decker talked about? Who's been manipulating us? Who do we go after? Who are we fighting against? Do we just sit around and wait for them to find us?"

"All good questions, Casey and no, we don't just sit around," Chuck said with determination. "Frankly, I don't know if we should believe anything Decker said, anyway. Decker's a pecker. He might be full of crap and just yanking our chains." The other three nodded in agreement. "We need a plan of our own." He looked at Sarah and said, "Sarah has a phone call to make. We need some more resources."

She looked at him and nodded again in understanding.

Sarah continued, "I need to meet with someone, so I think it would be best if we got together again after that to sit down and really think this all through."

Casey and Morgan looked at each other in confusion.

"There's someone I'd like to recruit to our team," she clarified as she grabbed her phone and made her call.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The following morning, Sarah sat at a small table, sipping her latte at the Starbucks in the Buy More plaza. Of course this Starbucks was not to be confused with the eight other Starbucks within a one mile radius of the one in which she now sat. Hipster indie music swirled through the coffeehouse. She was a little early for her meeting, so she skimmed the newspaper left on the table by the previous customer. She smiled when she heard the familiar voice say, "Don't read that. It will just depress you."

Sarah stood and gave her friend a hug. Jen Hatch hugged her back and then sat down in the chair across from her, placing her cup of Earl Grey, hot, on the table in front of her. Sarah and Chuck had met Jen at the Buy More when she went there to get her computer fixed. Jen had mentioned that she was working on a project for Vivian MacArthur and was recruited to help capture her. The team, with the help of Jen, had succeeded apprehending Vivian and put a stop her plan to sell Russian nuclear missiles to known terrorists.

Over the course of the mission, Jen and Sarah became good friends. Jen was older than Sarah and had been married for almost 20 years. Her experiences allowed her to give a lot of good advice about marriage and relationships. Her home life was a model of normality and stability. Plus, Sarah didn't have many female friends. Ellie was a wonderful friend and sister-in-law, but was busy with her job and family. She rarely saw Carina, and frankly was the last person in the world she would want to talk to about relationship stuff. She and Zondra had been estranged for a long time and had just recently repaired that relationship. She never really saw her either. So it was great fun for Sarah to have her own special friend.

Jen was a librarian and researcher by profession but had proven to be fairly competent in the espionage game. She had been instrumental in the Volkoff mission and had even managed to impress General Beckman. In fact, Beckman had been so impressed she had offered Jen a job with the Agency as an analyst/researcher. That was what Sarah needed to discuss with Jen, but certainly not before the really important stuff.

"Sarah, you look fantastic!" Jen beamed at her friend. "Married life suits you."

Sarah cheeks pinked a little and simply said, "Thanks." Then she leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, "Actually, married life is awesome!"

Jen laughed and nodded. _Ah, newlyweds_, she thought to herself. "You're looking tan and blonde. How was Maui?"

"Maui was wonderful. It was nice to just relax," Sarah sighed thinking about it.

"I'll bet. Did Chuck like the song we found?" She was referring to a song Jen had helped Sarah find to play as a special gift for him.

Sarah's face reddened. "Yes, he did. Thank you for helping me."

Jen noticed Sarah's face blush, but decided to let it go. Instead, she shrugged and said, "It was your idea. I just helped you find the perfect song." She chuckled, "I knew my time working at a music library would pay off some day. And how was Mama's Fish House?" she asked.

Sarah's eyes widened and exclaimed, "Oh my god. It was _the_ best fish I've ever eaten." She laughed and said, "I did have some people staring at me while I was eating, though."

Jen eyes danced, "I'm afraid In-N-Out will be offended. We'll have to go back soon so it won't feel bad."

"Yeah, we wouldn't want that to happen," Sarah said with a laugh. She knew Jen loved In-N-Out as much as she did, if that was somehow possible.

Jen looked at her friend fondly and said, "I have to say, Sarah, your wedding had to be one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever been to. You were gorgeous and Chuck was so handsome. I can tell your friends and family love you both very much," Jen said.

Sarah grinned and said, "Thank you. I'm so glad you and your family could be there." A hint of sadness flitted across Sarah's face and her grin faded. "I almost didn't make it, though," she said softly.

Jen's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, 'almost didn't make it'? There is no way I'm going to believe you had cold feet and were nearly a runaway bride."

Sarah gave her a small smile and said, "No, it was nothing like that." She nervously twisted the corner of a napkin between her fingers and said softly, "Vivian Volkoff tried to kill me."

"What?" Jen shouted. Several heads turned and glares were shot her way. When she realized she had said that much louder than she had intended, she ducked her head and leaned forward. She whispered loudly, "Vivian Volkoff? The one we arrested? The one who screamed she would kill me? 'Half-a-bubble off level' Vivian Volkoff?"

Sarah nodded, still looking down and twisting the corner of the napkin. "When she recovered from the gunshot wound you gave her, she escaped custody."

Jen leaned back in her chair, incredulous. "I have to tell you, Sarah, I'm not overly impressed with our government's ability to keep people who want to hurt you locked up. First that Shaw idiot and now Vivian. They need to send them to Gitmo and make them swim to Florida if they want to escape." She took a deep breath, sipped her tea and said, "So tell me what happened."

Sarah pushed the napkin to the side and looked into her friends face. She was comforted to see the care and support she found in Jen's eyes. "Vivian got a hold of a device her father developed called the Norseman. It finds a specific person through their DNA and poisons only that person. It usually kills immediately, but I was lucky in that it didn't kill me," Sarah shrugged.

Jen's eyebrows furrowed and asked, "Why do you think that is?"

Sarah grabbed the napkin, stared hard at it and started twisting the corner again. She had wondered about that herself. She shrugged and said, "Personally, I think it was a combination of a couple of things. Vivian was using a second, different Norseman device since Chuck and I captured the first one. Her lawyer slash 'mentor of evil' had helped her use the first one and had it precisely calibrated. He wasn't there when she used the second one, so I don't think it was as accurate."

"Um, her 'mentor of evil' was unavailable?" Jen asked. She took into Sarah's deadpanned face and said quietly, "Got it. We don't need to worry about him anymore. Carry on," she said, sipping her tea again.

She looked into Jen's eyes and continued. "The other element that worked in my favor is that I don't think the DNA sample they had for me was very good. I don't know what they used, but I'm pretty sure I would have remembered if they had swabbed the inside of my cheek," Sarah tried to sound light as she sipped her coffee.

"So the poison got to you via this Norseman device but it didn't kill you like it was supposed to. Did it affect you?" Jen asked in a low voice.

She gave a slight nod and began twisting a different corner of the napkin between her fingers. "I collapsed at our rehearsal dinner." Her voice caught and tears stung her eyes. Jen waited silently as Sarah drew in a deep breath. "They rushed me to the hospital and immediately put me in an ice bath. I had a fever of over 106 degrees. It's a long story, but eventually Chuck, with the help of everybody, got the antidote and I recovered," Sarah said with a weak smile, her eyes glistening with the threatening tears.

Jen placed a soothing hand on Sarah's arm and said with tears prickling her own eyes, "Sweetie, I'm so sorry you had to go through that. It must have been really horrible." She heaved a relieved sigh and squeezed Sarah's arm. "I'm glad you're okay. I would have never guessed all of this went on just before the wedding." She dipped her head to get a better look into Sarah's face. "So everything is okay, then? You got better, you and Chuck are married..." she stopped. "Wait, what about Vivian? Is she on the loose gunning for you? For me?"

Sarah's head snapped up and said quickly, "No, no! She and her father are out of the picture."

Jen's eyes widened, "Wait. Her father, too? I thought he was in some super high security prison." She grinned and said, "He broke out, too, didn't he? See, nobody stays in prison with you guys around."

Sarah laughed when she realized Jen was right. "Actually, Chuck broke him out."

Jen snickered and said, "Of course he did!"

Sarah's smile faded a little and said, "I'll tell you the whole story when we are someplace not so public, but yes, Chuck help Alexei Volkoff escape. He was the only one who could help Chuck get the antidote for the Norseman poison. He helped convince Vivian to relent and help me. Apparently, it was quite a tense standoff. But now, father and daughter have reconnected. They have new identities and have effectively disappeared. Neither of them are a threat to us anymore."

Jen smiled in relief and leaned back in her chair. "Well, that's great! Everything's back to normal." She clapped her hands together once, rubbed them and said, "So, when do I start as your researcher slash analyst?"

Sarah's face turned serious and started working the napkin again. "Um, yeah. We need to talk."

Jen felt like her insides had turned to ice and her face paled. "Holy crap, you're dumping me."

"Oh god, no!" Her face was stricken. "It's nothing like that. We, as a team, found out some highly sensitive information that the CIA doesn't want made public. They feel like they can't control us they way they want to, so they disbanded Team Bartowski. We don't work for the CIA or NSA anymore."

"They burned you?" Jen asked.

Sarah nodded.

"That explains why they acted like they had never heard of me when I called human resources in Langley the other day." Jen shrugged and smiled, "Well, it was fun while it lasted." Realization of what it meant to her friend suddenly hit her. "Oh, Sarah, I'm so sorry. You don't have a job now. I guess Chuck can stay at the Buy More, but what are you going to do?"

An enigmatic smile curled on Sarah's face. "We're going into business for ourselves."

"You mean do for real the cover security work you said you did when we first met?" Jen asked.

"Not exactly," Sarah said. This was the part of the story she couldn't wait to Jen. "When Vivian and Hartley Winterbottom, that's Volkoff's real name," she informed Jen when her eyebrows shot up at the name, "disappeared into their new life, they had to give up Volkoff Industries. So," she paused for a few seconds for dramatic effect, "they transferred all of Volkoff Industries' assets to Chuck and me as a wedding present." Sarah stopped and waited for that nugget of information to sink in.

Jen's mouth dropped open and she blinked a couple of times. She recovered and leaned forward with eyes narrowed. "Sarah, remember," she said quietly, "I looked into Volkoff Industries before I accepted that job with Vivian. It's worth a lot of money. How much, exactly?"

Sarah's blue eyes danced when she looked Jen straight in the eye and said, "Eight hundred and seventy-seven million dollars."

Jen stared back at Sarah. She didn't even blink. "You and Chuck have $877 million?" she choked. Sarah, her face graced by an inscrutable smile, slowly nodded.

"What, pray tell, will you do with all this money?" she asked with a calm she didn't feel. Before Sarah could answer, Jen gasped and said, "Please don't turn into those people who go broke after they win the lottery because they don't know how to handle their money!"

Sarah chuckled and shook her head. Jen said, "Now if it was just Chuck, I'd be worried. But with you involved, you'll be okay."

Sarah grinned. "We haven't gone crazy yet. Actually, we know exactly what we want to do with it. We want to fund our own clandestine organization. We will be what you might call 'independent espionage agents.' And we want to you to join our team."

Jen sat back in her chair, stunned.

Sarah said sympathetically, "I'm sorry, Jen. This is a lot to take in. I hate to tell you this, but there is a lot more I need to tell you. But I think this is enough for now."

Jen nodded mutely. After a moment, she shook off the shock and said, "Wait. I have one simple question. Why?"

"You mean why not just let the CIA and the NSA do their thing and Chuck and I buy an island in the Caribbean and retire?"

"Well, yeah." Jen grinned and said, "And if you did, then my family and I would have a great place to vacation every year," she joked.

Sarah's own mood was lifting and she noticed that Jen seemed to be returning to her old self as well.

"I love the idea of having friends that own their own island. You could send the private jet," Jen teased.

Sarah blushed a little.

"Wait! You already have a private jet?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yup," Sarah nodded slightly. She grew serious again and said, "Anyway, the agent sent to 'take care of us' because of what we know, a guy named Decker, told Chuck that everything we've done the past four years was all planned. Our lives were manipulated in everything we did." Sarah saw Jen's eyes grow wide. Sarah nodded. "Maybe even that call you received from Vivian MacArthur."

Jen's jaw clenched. "I never did find out how she got my name," she nearly growled. Jen's blue eyes flashed. "I don't like being manipulated by anyone," she said angrily.

Sarah's eyebrow rose at Jen's fierce reaction to this revelation. She continued urgently, "That's why we have to do this on our own. We don't know who in the government might be in on whatever all of this is. That's why we're going to go after whoever has been manipulating us. Manipulating you. It's up to us to stop it."

Jen threw her shoulders back and said with conviction, "Sign me up."

Sarah put up her hand to slow down her friend's enthusiasm. "Jen, you have to understand that there are serious risks. We are going after bad people. And we don't even know who they are. What we will be doing won't be government sanctioned since we don't work for it anymore. We won't have access to the kinds of resources we had with the Agency. That may not affect you directly since you won't be in the field." That elicited a snort from Jen. Sarah smirked and continued, "But it may impact your ability to perform research for us. We hope to get some people who still work for the government to help us, like our former boss, but that will take some time." She looked directly into Jen's eyes. "Are you okay with that?"

Jen sat back and crossed her arms in front of her. Sarah could tell she was processing everything she had been told.

"These people," Jen started. "We don't know anything about them, do we? Not even what their end game is."

Sarah shook her head, "No, we don't."

"Let me guess. World domination," Jen said sarcastically.

Sarah's eyebrow crooked up. "I wish I could laugh and say that was ridiculous, but Jen, I can't."

Jen groaned, put her elbow on the table and rested her chin in her hand. "Why is it always world domination? Why can't these people find something better to do with their delusions of grandeur? Like find a cure for cancer or develop the perfect flavor of ice cream." Sarah snorted. "What?" Jen said in mock defensiveness. "I like ice cream."

Jen schooled her features and continued, "Seriously, Sarah, my kid is 15. She has her whole life ahead of her. We can't let these megalomaniacs ruin her or anyone else's future. I said the same thing when we went after Vivian Volkoff and I'll say the same thing now. I could never live with myself if I could have done something to stop them and didn't."

Sarah looked into her friend's blue eyes and saw a mix of fire and resolve. When she was convinced Jen knew the risks she was taking, she nodded and said, "Okay."

Jen nodded and replied, "Okay." She relaxed and said, "So there's more to this story?"

"Yeah, but we'll get to that later. Right now there's a guy over there checking you out." She flicked her eyes to a man about Jen's age with blond hair and a fake tan. He wore a dress blue shirt that should have been buttoned up higher and dark dress slacks. A thick gold chain adorned his neck. He looked a little like a disco reject.

Jen nearly did a spit take. "Me? I'm sitting here with _you_ and he's looking at _me_? He must be legally blind."

Sarah scowled. "Oh, please." Then she sat up straighter. "Don't turn around," she warned through clenched teeth. "He's coming over here."

Jen looked up at the man when he stopped at their table. Sarah watched Jen's face very subtly change from curiosity to annoyance.

"Aren't you Jen Garner?" the man asked, his veneered teeth flashing a cheesy grin.

Jen put on a fake smile and replied, "Well, I used to be. My name is Jen Hatch now. You're Troy Cooper, right? If I remember, we went to high school together."

"That's right," he smarmed. "So, you're married?"

"Yup," she held up her left hand. "Happily for 19 years now. How about you, Troy? Married?"

Uninvited, he pulled up a chair and sat down at the table. "Three strikes and I'm out," he grinned, a little too happily.

Jen's eyes grew wide. Ew. "Um, wow, Troy. That's…interesting." Shaking herself slightly, Jen remembered her manners and introduced Sarah saying, "Troy, this is my good friend, Sarah." They shook hands as Jen continued in a warning tone, "She just got back from her honeymoon."

Sarah noticed his handshake was a limp and his hand was soft and slightly moist. _Charming_, she cringed.

"Your husband is a very lucky man," Troy oozed. "Are you and the new hubby looking for a house? Because I happen to be in real estate and can get you into a great place with just a little down." He paused and leaned forward, closer to Sarah. "It's definitely a buyer's market right now," he said in what was apparently his sexy voice.

Sarah pressed her lips together to keep the snort from escaping. Now she understood Jen's reaction to this guy. "Well, you know, Troy," she purred, "we aren't in the market right now, but if you give me your card, I'll give you a call when we are." She gave Jen an almost imperceptible wink. Jen took a sip of her tea to cover the grin forming on her face.

He nearly fell out of his chair reaching for his wallet to fish out a business card. He handed one to Sarah with a flourish. He had his back completely turned to Jen now. Sarah said with mock innocence, "Don't you think Jen might want one of your cards, too?"

He jerked and spun around. He seemed to have completely forgotten she was there. "You're probably already in a house, right Jen?" hardly glancing her way.

"Yes, Troy, we are and we're very happy there," she replied sweetly. He turned his attention back toward Sarah. She saw Jen roll her eyes. She couldn't stop the snort from escaping when Jen raised her fist and gave the back of Troy's head a one-fingered salute.

Sarah covered her mouth with her hand and expertly turned the snort into a small cough.

"Well, I've got to go. Big real estate meeting, you know," Troy bragged. He stood, took Sarah's hand in both of his, shook it again and said, "It was wonderful to meet you, Sarah. You'll be in touch?"

She flashed him one of her dazzling smiles and he staggered just a little. He half turned toward Jen and mumbled, "Good to see you again, Jen."

"You too, Troy," her response dripped with sarcasm.

He dropped Sarah's hand and headed for the door. As soon as it closed, they both burst out laughing. "Oh my god, Jen, that man has to be one of the biggest tools I have ever met in my life!"

"I know," Jen laughed. "He was like that in high school, too. He doesn't even remember that he did the same thing to me at the last high school reunion. As soon as he found out Mark and I were already in a house, he just walked away in the middle of the conversation."

Sarah shook her head at Troy's boorish behavior. Suddenly, a realization hit her. "Wait! Your maiden name was Jen Garner? Jennifer Garner? Like the actress?"

"Don't start," she warned, but her eyes danced. "I'm older then her, so I had the name first. By the time she was famous, I was already married. There aren't that many people that know that little bit of information."

Sarah laughed, "Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me."

Jen smiled and said, "Thanks."

Sarah looked at the time on her phone. "Do you have time to meet with Chuck, Casey, Morgan and me right now? I'd like to get you up to speed and get your thoughts on what's going on," Sarah said.

Jen glanced at her watch. "Sure," she replied, "This is my daughter's last week of school before summer break, so I don't have to be back to Pasadena until this afternoon. Let's go."

They stood up and grabbed their empty cups. Sarah took the lid off her cup and dropped Troy's business card into it. She replaced the lid and dropped the cup in the trashcan as they walked out the door.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Next time on _Return of the Ninja Librarian_:

"Shall we christen our newly purchased supply closet?"


	2. Chapter 2 Data Dump

**A/N** – I wanted to get this chapter up before I go out of town for a few days. I won't have my computer with me, so the next chapter will be up in about a week or so.

Insert standard Chuck disclaimer here.

**Chapter 2 – Data Dump**

Sarah and Jen clamored down the steps into the cavernous and empty Castle. Jen stopped about half way down and asked, "So this has just been sitting under the Buy More?"

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, the base used to be under the Orange Orange, the frozen yogurt shop that was my cover. But then the Buy More blew up and the CIA rebuilt it with the base underneath."

Recognition flickered across Jen's face. "I remember when the Buy More blew up. They thought a couple of employees…" Her eyes grew wide. "Jeff and Lester," she breathed.

Sarah shook her head, "No, it wasn't them. Actually, the C-4 was planted by your friend with the lump in the shape of a kick stool on the back of his head."

"You mean, Sh-," Jen started.

Sarah stopped her with a warning look and then glanced around, making sure they were not overheard. She said in a low voice, "We don't use his name around here."

Jen nodded knowingly. "Right. Like Voldemort. Only our guy is more irritating."

Sarah gave a quick nod and then continued down the stairs.

Stepping off the last stair, they walked across a large empty room and headed toward Chuck, Casey and Morgan who were sitting at a conference table. Sarah went straight to Chuck and gave him a quick kiss hello.

"Hey, you found some chairs," she noticed.

"Shhhh," Chuck teased in a mock whisper. "Don't tell anyone but we swiped these from the break room upstairs." The men stood when Sarah and Jen approached.

"That works," Sarah agreed.

Chuck smiled at Jen and said, "Hey, Jen. It's good to see you again." He gave her a quick hug and then put his arm around Sarah. He looked at Sarah and said, "I take it we have new member on our team?" She grinned at him with delight.

Jen nodded, "Yes, if you'll have me."

Chuck smiled and said, "Of course! I was hoping you would say yes."

"Welcome aboard," Casey said, shaking Jen's hand. A genuine smile formed on his lips. He like Jen. She had spunk. He liked spunk. "Let me know when you're ready to go to the shooting range."

Jen's eyes danced and answered, "Thanks, Casey. I'll do that. Do you have large caliber? 50 cal maybe?"

Casey's smile grew larger. "Yeah, I think we can find something to plink around with. I have a few weapons at home that might do the trick."

"Cool!" Jen enthused. Then she turned to Morgan. "You must be Morgan. It's nice to meet you. You did a great job marrying these two," she said shaking Morgan's hand.

Morgan blushed a little and said, "Thanks. It's great to meet you, too." His face brightened when he made the connection and said, "You're the librarian who turned Jeff and Lester on to brewing beer at home."

She cringed a little and said, "Guilty as charged. I hope that hasn't been too much trouble for you."

"Naw, they gave up after the first batch. They said it took too long. Jeff said it's faster to just buy it at the store," Morgan said with relief. "Especially with the volume he drinks every day. They'd never be able to keep up."

Jen crooked an eyebrow and said, "They gave me one of the bottles from that first and apparently only batch."

Chuck laughed and asked, "I remember that. Did you ever get the nerve to open it?"

Jen wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, I did. It was kind of…skunky. I ended up pouring it into an empty pie tin and putting in the backyard to kill snails. It worked surprisingly well."

"Wait, what about your dogs? Weren't you worried they would drink it?" Sarah asked.

Jen laughed and shook her head. "They wouldn't go near it. Buster, the dog who will roll on anything dead, wouldn't even go within 15 feet of it. He just sat and whined. Scooter would go out and bark at it like it had come from the pit of hell, which I suppose is rather accurate. It was actually pretty hilarious." They all nodded in understanding.

Jen walked around the room a little, taking everything in. One lone video monitor hung on the wall. Cables and wires drooped from holes in the bare walls, exposed now that the monitors they had once powered were gone. She smiled crookedly and said, "I love what you've done with the place. Very Spartan."

Casey grunted. "Yeah, the CIA took everything except that monitor and this table. We're going to have to replace everything."

Morgan added, "It's a good thing Chuck and Sarah own the Buy More now. We can get everything at a discount."

Jen's head snapped toward Chuck and Sarah who stood with their arms around each other, grinning like Cheshire cats. "So you have spent some of that money," Jen smirked.

"Yeah, well, we own the Buy More and everything underneath it as well," Chuck replied. "When we worked with you before, we told you we were CIA agents, but we never told you the whole story. At the time, weren't at liberty to give you all the specifics. Now we can, so let's fill you in on the background and origin of Team Bartowski. Have a seat," he said, indicating one of the chairs at the table. Everyone sat down and looked expectantly at Chuck. He put his elbows on the table in front of him and laced his fingers together. "It all started when I got an e-mail from my old college roommate…" he began.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Over the course of the next 90 minutes, Chuck, with occasional interjections from Sarah and Casey, told Jen about the Intersect, Bryce Larkin, FULCRUM, the Ring, Daniel Shaw, Morgan finding Castle and becoming part of the team, Chuck's parents, Volkoff Industries, Hartley Winterbottom, Clyde Decker and anything else that seemed pertinent to their current situation. Jen was quiet throughout and only asked a couple of clarifying questions.

When Chuck fell silent, they all waited while Jen turned everything over in her mind.

"Okay," she started, "Let me see if I've got this straight." She looked first at Chuck, "You, Chuck, had this Intersect in your brain, kind of like a computer that had all kinds of important national security secrets in it."

Chuck nodded. Then she turned her attention to Casey and Sarah.

"Casey, NSA, and Sarah, CIA, were sent to protect Chuck and the Intersect. Chuck's flashes of intelligence from the Intersect helped you fight FULCRUM, a band of nefarious bad guys who wanted the Intersect. Eventually, you all defeated them and you," looking at Chuck again, "got the Intersect out of your head with the help of your father who developed the thing in the first place." He nodded. "But then you uploaded the new Intersect when your old college roommate," and then looking back to Sarah, "and your old CIA partner who was supposed to get the new Intersect was killed." She looked around and received nods from everyone.

She took a deep breath and continued. "You defeated FULCRUM, but then had to deal with the Ring, an 'umbrella' organization of bad guys. He-who-must-not-be-named was a CIA agent who supposedly knew everything about the Ring. He rode into town and threw a giant monkey wrench into everything," she glanced at Sarah and said, "and we'll just leave it at that."

Sarah looked down at the table in embarrassment. Chuck grabbed her hand and when she peeked at his face, was grateful for his sweet and understanding smile. She looked back to Jen who gave her a mischievous wink.

"Agent Tool-of-the-Century," that was met with a round of snickers, "later went to the dark side. Now he's in jail, again, and the Ring is gone." She saw more nodding.

"Now comes the part we need to really focus on, right?" She stopped and looked at the faces around her. They were entranced by hearing someone else tell all that had happened to them in the last four years.

"Hartley Winterbottom, also known as Agent X, was a MI-6 scientist friend of your father's. Working with the CIA, he uploaded the first Intersect 30 years ago. It was supposed to help him with his cover identity as a bad guy arms dealer known as Alexei Volkoff. It was only supposed to last for a couple of months, but the thing went haywire and he stayed Volkoff for 30 years." By now, Jen had left her chair and was pacing around the room as she tried to get all of the pieces of the story straight in her mind.

"While Chuck was trying to get the antidote for Sarah after Vivian got her with the Norseman device, Agent Decker suppressed the Intersect in Volkoff and now he's Winterbottom again. The Agency has now cut you all loose because you know they screwed up and unleashed this bad guy on the world for 30 years. You have the files on Agent X slash Winterbottom slash Volkoff and are safe from the CIA because they know you will turn those files over to the press if they come after you. Now this Decker character tells you that none of what has gone on in the last four years was coincidental and that it was all part of a plan. You have no idea what plan this is, though, or who's behind it."

She looked at each of the faces in turn and stopped when she reached Chuck's. "Your Intersect is suppressed," she stated.

He nodded.

She looked at Morgan, "And now you have it."

"Yeah, but I'm not very good with it," Morgan replied.

She looked at each face again, nodded and stated, "Got it." She went back to her chair and sat down.

Surprise registered on each face and they glanced around the table at each other. Sarah asked, "So you aren't freaked out by any of this?"

Jen shook her head. "Honestly, sweetie, I would be disappointed with anything less than a story like that from you. You all are the craziest group of people I have ever had the honor of knowing. And the most fun." Her smile quickly faded when she added in a serious tone, "I've worked with you and I've seen you all in action. I know what you do and how important it is to the security of our country. Everything you've done is for the good of this nation. It's an honor to know the whole story. Thank you for telling me. I just wish more people knew about your sacrifices and the difference you've made."

They sat around the table in stunned silence. No one, other than Beckman, really, had ever thanked them for their service because no one had ever been allowed to know what they did. Sarah gave her friend a grateful smile. Casey grunted in appreciation. Morgan smiled sheepishly. Chuck cleared his throat and said, "Okay, now that we are all on the same page, let's get to work." He looked at his watch and said, "But first, let's have lunch."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As much as they wanted to head to In-N-Out for lunch, Jen didn't have much time before she had to pick her daughter up at school, so they ordered pizzas to be delivered to the Buy More.

Jen and Morgan went upstairs to wait for the pizzas and Casey walked over to the Large Mart to buy some drinks and paper plates. Chuck and Sarah found themselves alone in Castle.

Sarah was the first to realize this and said in a husky voice, "We seem to be all alone, Chuck. What do you think we should do?"

Chuck looked around the room and said, "You know, it's so empty in here. I think we should go from room to room and start making a list of things we need to buy to get Castle back up to speed."

Disappointment crashed over her and her face fell. She nearly stomped her foot like a frustrated two year old. _Crap_, she thought. _This is just like that time I was in a bubble bath and all he could think about was talking to Awesome when they got to Las Vegas._ She sighed, "Really, Chuck? Is that what you want to do?"

A lascivious smile spread across his face and his brown eyes smoldered. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her to him. Her body slammed into his and he wrapped his arms possessively around her waist.

"Not even a little," he whispered fiercely. He gave her an intense, searing kiss. She happily returned his kiss with unrestrained fervor. When it broke he growled in a low voice, "I missed you this morning when you went for coffee. That's the longest we've been apart since before the wedding."

Sarah only nodded, looked at his lips and pushed herself harder against Chuck's body. He had to adjust his stance slightly so that they both didn't end up on the floor. She attacked his lips and each moaned when their tongues danced in each other's mouths. Chuck's hands were wandering all over her body and finally found their way under her blouse. His touch seared her skin. She was like a nuclear bomb about to explode.

"Oh, Chuuuuuck," she managed to groan. Her ability to form polysyllabic words was completely lost.

"Shall we christen our newly purchased supply closet?" he panted between urgent kisses and bites on her neck. His insides felt like mush and his legs were so wobbly, he wasn't sure he would even be able to stand much longer.

She moved her head and captured his mouth again. She growled her assent. They pulled apart and hand in hand, sprinted down the corridor toward the supply closet. Chuck yanked the door open, pulled her into the completely empty closet and slammed the door shut. Her back against the closed door, he pinned her to it with his body, assaulting her again with his mouth. They both worked feverishly to remove each other's extraneous layers of clothing, their lips never losing contact.

He broke the kiss long enough to proclaim, "Married life is awesome."

Sarah's affirmation of his declaration was nonverbal.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jen and Morgan managed to get the pizzas from the delivery guy without Jeff and Lester's knowledge. While waiting for the delivery, Morgan had informed Jen his primary role on the team was that of the Magnet. Jen suggested they employ the same tactic with the pizza delivery. Morgan went up to the Nerd Herd desk and engaged Jeff and Lester in a frantic conversation about the sale of the Buy More. He got them all worked up by asking questions about who the owner was, what they would be like and how it would affect their jobs. All the while, Jen waited for the delivery guy near the check out desk at the front of the store.

When the pizzas arrived, Jen intercepted the delivery guy, paid for the pizzas and sent him on his way. She walked silently down the aisle furthest from the Nerd Herd desk and headed toward the back of the store. As she made her way, she caught Morgan's eye and nodded. He acknowledged it with a slight nod of his own.

"Oh, hey, guys," Morgan said to Jeff and Lester, "I'm sorry if I got you all worked up. I'm sure the new owner will be fine."

Lester shot Morgan a perturbed look. "You better watch yourself, my friend. The new owner may want to bring in his own management team." A creepy and somewhat maniacal giggle burbled from Lester. "You might be demoted to green shirt again."

Jeff slurred, "Yeah, at least the Nerd Herd has skills."

Morgan looked at them both and saw his opportunity for escape. "You know? You guys are totally right!" He put a panicked look on his face and said hastily, "I'd better get to my office and get back to work!" He took off toward his office and yelled over his shoulder, "Thanks for the warning, guys."

Lester looked at Jeff and said, "Poor schmuck. He is _so_ going to get fired." Jeff smirked and added eloquently, "Yeah."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Morgan caught up with Jen and they returned to Castle together. Jen took the tablecloth off the table and placed the pizzas on it. Past experience had shown her that tablecloths and pizza were not an optimal combination. Folding it and placing it off to the side, she glanced around the room, noticing that Chuck and Sarah were nowhere to be seen. "Chuck and Sarah are…" she raised a questioning eyebrow to Morgan who responded with a blush.

"I take it would be a bad idea to go looking for them," Jen stated.

Morgan nodded and answered bashfully, "Um, yeah."

"Its okay, Morgan," Jen smiled, trying to set him at ease. "Casey warned me about the supply closet."

"Oh, good," Morgan grinned in relief and visibly relaxed. "That could have been really awkward."

"Yeah, no kidding," she snickered. "So, Morgan, tell me about yourself and your relationship with all of this," she said as they both sat down at the table to wait for the others to return.

It made Morgan feel good that Jen actually wanted to know more about him. "I've been Chuck's best friend since forever and was once his roommate. We've worked together at the Buy More for years and awhile back I became store manager." Morgan could see that Jen was impressed. He smiled and continued, "I used to have a massive crush on Chuck's sister, Ellie. But now I'm going out with Alex, Casey's daughter. Oh, and I live with Casey, too."

That last part piqued Jen's curiosity. "You're dating Casey's daughter? And you live with him? How's that going?"

Morgan smiled a little, looked down at the table and scraped at something stuck to it with his fingernail. "It was scary at first. Casey's rather…intimidating." Jen nodded in agreement. Morgan stopped his scraping, looked up at her and said, "But then he saw how happy she was with me and how great we are together, he's okay with it now." He waited a beat and added, "I also know that if I ever hurt Alex, Casey will make sure I regret it for the rest of my life, which, I might add, would be very short."

Jen nodded slowly and concurred, "Yeah, I can see that."

"Damn right," Casey said as he trundled down the stairs carrying a grocery bag full of drinks and paper plates. He approached the table and set the bag down.

Jen said, "A father's job is to scare the crap out of his daughter's potential boyfriends. It weeds out the losers who don't think the girl is worth it. If the guy is willing to endure the scrutiny and wrath of a protective father, they're probably okay. Right, Casey?"

"Damn right," he said again. He glanced around and asked, "Where are the Bartowskis?"

Morgan cleared his throat and stared pointedly at the table. Jen smirked and rolled her eyes. Casey immediately understood and grunted in disgust, "I thought it would get better once they got married, but it looks like it's going to be worse."

All three heard a banging noise emanate from down the corridor. Morgan looked up at the other two and said, "Well, I think we should go ahead and get started on lunch, don't you?"

Casey grunted and Jen added, "Great idea, Morgan. Why don't you put out the drinks and I'll get the plates."

Morgan leapt out of his seat and went to work. They had already opened their sodas and started in on their pizza when Chuck and Sarah walked hand in hand into the room. They both looked dazed, happy and a slightly disheveled.

"Nice of you to join us," Casey said through a mouthful of pizza.

As much as Sarah knew she should be utterly embarrassed, she actually didn't care what they thought. She knew and trusted them all. They all knew what Chuck meant to her and all they had been through together. She deserved her time with him and wasn't going to apologize to anyone. So she simply ignored Casey and asked, "Any vegetarian without olives?"

Jen flipped open the pizza box nearest her and said, "Here you go." She gave Sarah a wink.

Sarah popped her eyebrow up and down in reply so quickly no one noticed but Jen. She also noticed when Morgan gave Chuck a fist bump. She just smiled as she put a piece of pizza on her plate and sat down.

Chuck grabbed some food, a drink for him and one for Sarah and sat down next to her. "So," he began, "after getting Castle outfitted, what's our first priority as freelance spies?"

No one wanted to voice what everyone seemed to be thinking, so Casey spoke up and said, "Get the Intersect out of Morgan's melon."

"Yes, please," Morgan said in relief. Everyone seemed to relax after hearing Morgan's reply. He continued, "Chuck's had the Intersect for years and knows how to use it. I will never be as good with the Intersect as him. He's the pro with it, not me."

"If you could get the Intersect back, Chuck, would you want it?" Jen asked.

Chuck's forehead wrinkled when his eyebrows shot up. "Wha-, um, I hadn't really thought about it," he stammered. He looked over at Sarah who wore a questioning look on her face. "Sarah and I would have to discuss it and figure out if it would be the right thing for me to do vis-à-vis our marriage."

Jen laughed and said, "Vis-à-vis, Chuck? Impressive!"

Sarah smirked at Morgan and said, "Morgan gave us a 'Word of the Day' calendar. It comes in handy."

Jen turned to Morgan and put her hand up. "Vocabulary building high five, Morgan!" she said with a laugh as they slapped hands.

Casey swallowed another bite of pizza and said, "Even if we wanted to, how do we do it? We've got nothing. The last time Chuck downloaded the Intersect, it came from the computer his father left for Ellie. That computer was taken away when they gutted Castle. My guess is that it's somewhere at CIA headquarters in Langley."

Chuck nodded and added, "It's damaged, too."

Jen glanced at him with a questioning look.

"Knife fight. It got stabbed," he explained.

"Ah," was her only reply.

"I assume they don't think it works anymore. Plus, it's from a program that has been shut down, so they probably just stuck it in storage," Chuck added.

"Did you do a backup of the hard drive, Chuck?" Jen asked.

Chuck shook his head. "No, the computers my father built were custom. They wouldn't allow for the hard drives to be copied for security reasons. He didn't want multiple copies of his work floating around on unsecured computers."

Morgan looked at Chuck and said, "Dude, I thought your dad's computers were Roark 7's?"

Chuck smiled ruefully and replied, "No, remember when Lester got his hands on the first computer my dad sent me? He only _thought_ it was Roark 7's because we were expecting one from Buy More corporate."

They all could practically see the light bulb over Morgan's head. "So the one Ellie had wasn't a Roark 7 either," he stated.

"Nope, it wasn't." Chuck sat quietly for a moment and then said, "Whether I download the Intersect again or not, I think we need to get that computer back. It has a ton of my dad's research on it. Everything that has happened to us in the past four years has revolved around the Intersect. Just because the program has been dropped by the CIA doesn't mean it's still not important."

"So, we have to steal the computer from the CIA," Sarah stated.

"Well, no. Technically we're retrieving what belongs to us. My dad gave the computer to Ellie. It's never been the property of the government. We'll just take it back," Chuck suggested.

"I'm not sure the government will see it that way," Jen ventured.

"Well," Chuck replied, "We'll have to figure out a way so they don't notice."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Next time on _Return of the Ninja Librarian_:

"Yes, Mom," he teased. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and she almost slugged him. She decided he deserved a fate worse than that.


	3. Chapter 3 Dangerous Liaison

**A/N**: I wanted to post this earlier today, but there was big doings around here. My daughter got her braces off today. And there was much rejoicing.

Thanks for reading and please review. I don't own Chuck. But I do have a happy, smiley teenager in my house.

**Chapter 3 – Dangerous Liaison**

The team had decided that in their first espionage priority was to liberate and reacquire Orion's laptop from the CIA in order to try to get the Intersect out of Morgan's head. They kicked around some ideas while eating their pizza, but the plan was nebulous at best. They realized, however, that they had other, more immediate matters to take care of before they could go on any missions.

Lunch was finished and the pizza boxes, paper plates and soda cans had been discarded and/or recycled. They still sat around the only furniture in Castle, the conference room table on borrowed Buy More chairs.

"I have a question," Jen said, raising her hand. "How are the employees of the Buy More going to take to you being the new owners? Won't that raise questions?"

Chuck and Sarah looked at each other. "What do you mean?" Sarah asked.

"I mean, I get the impression that Chuck has never had tons of money." That was met with a round of chuckling affirmations. "And although you could say Sarah inherited it from a long lost wealthy relative or something, honestly, why would you buy the Buy More?" They all looked at each other. "If I had that kind of money, I would do something else with it," Jen stated.

"She's right," Casey said. "In this crappy economy, a big box store is a terrible investment. Jen should say she's the new owner."

"Thanks, Casey. Now I'm the crappy investor," she teased.

Casey smirked and gave a good humored grunt.

Chuck nodded, "Casey's on to something, here, though. You're right. The Buy More employees will know something weird is up if I'm," he heard Sarah clear her throat and quickly corrected himself, "we are the new owners. I agree with Casey. Jen should say she's the new owner."

Jen shook her head, "No one will ever believe I'm a wealthy business owner. Besides, some of them know I'm librarian."

Sarah interjected, "Okay, so then you can be the representative of the owners."

Jen had an incredulous look on her face. "I don't know anything about business. I'm a librarian, remember?"

Sarah nodded and said, "Jen, Chuck and Casey are right. You need to be involved. We'll just say you're the face of the new owners who want to stay anonymous. It would also be a great cover for you. It would explain why you would be around the Buy More all the time."

"But it's so easy to find out who the owners really are," Jen argued. "All they would have to do is a quick search with the county clerk's office and…" she trailed off when she realized who she was talking about. "Yeah, who am I kidding? They would never do that." She thought for a moment and then said, "But why would the new owners choose a librarian as their liaison with the employees?"

"Liaison," Morgan held up his hand to give a high five to Jen. "Good one."

Jen's eyes dance as she slapped Morgan's upheld hand. "Don't change the subject," she warned with a laugh.

"Jen, you are also a researcher, right?" Sarah began. "If anyone asks, and I seriously doubt they will, just tell them you were hired by some people who live in the area and wanted to invest in their community. You did the research and found out that the Buy More was for sale. Their purchase of the Buy More was a perfect way for them help keep jobs in the area. They were so pleased with your research and heart for the neighborhood, they asked you to continue to work for them as their representative with the employees. And all this is true because you will be our representative," Sarah finished triumphantly.

Chuck grinned proudly at his wife. "Sarah, that is a great idea." He leaned in and kissed her cheek.

"Oh! And," Morgan nearly came out of his chair, "you can get all of the stuff we need for Castle but say you are buying it on behalf of the owners for another business, which is also true! And it makes the Buy More look profitable."

They waited as Jen weighed this most recent request. Finally, she smiled and said, "I have to admit, it is a good idea. I can't think of a reason for me not to do it other than I have to deal with the guys upstairs."

"You've already shown that you can handle Jeff and Lester," Casey responded. "You had them running out the door the first time you met them," he smiled crookedly at the memory of Jeff and Lester hightailing out of the Buy More to the nearest library.

"Yeah," Jen's eyes twinkled, "that was pretty funny." She waited a beat and then said, "Okay, I'll do it."

A cheer arose around the table.

Jen smirked and said, "You people are crazy, you know that, right?"

Sarah's eyes danced and said, "Yeah, we know. And we wouldn't have it any other way."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Jen left soon after she was anointed Chuck and Sarah's liaison to the Buy More. She had asked and received permission from them to "do what she needed to do to make the Buy More a successful business." That had elicited an evil grin from Jen. The other four had looked at each other with curiosity.

At that point, they decided it would be a good time to go through Castle and figure out exactly what needed to be done to re-outfit it. With notepad in hand, Morgan trailed behind Chuck, Sarah and Casey as they walked through each room and jotted down the items as they rattled them off. They needed to buy laptops, some desktop computers, monitors, get the internet up and running, wifi installed and security cameras set up in both Castle and the Buy More. They had already purchased all new tactical gear, but they still needed to acquire some weapons. Sarah and Casey would be in charge of that.

The most vigorous discussion took place between Chuck and Morgan when deciding which gaming platform they should install. They discussed all of the different platforms and their pros and cons. Casey was disgusted with the conversation from the very start and wandered away. Sarah was amused at first, but when they delved into the minutia of VGA resolution and angular fields of view, she stepped between the two with her hands on her hips.

"Okay, I'm duly impressed with your über-nerdiness. However, don't you realize that we can actually afford to buy all the different platforms that are available?"

Chuck and Morgan smiled sheepishly at each other when they realized she was right. They could afford more than one platform.

"Can we set them up in separate rooms?" Chuck asked her with a sly grin.

"You're such a nerd," she smiled and kissed him. "Of course you can put them wherever you want, as long as they don't get in the way of our spy work."

"Yes, Mom," he teased. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and she almost slugged him. She decided he deserved a fate worse than that.

She stood on her tiptoes, her face an inch from his. She placed one hand on his shoulder and slid the other hand into the front pocket of his pants. She moistened her lips and feathered them against his ear. She whispered, "You call me that again, Chuck, and you will be doing 'inventory' in the supply closet all by yourself for the foreseeable future." To put a fine point on it, she gently blew in his ear and moved the hand in his pocket, ever so slightly. She smiled to herself when she felt his body jerk and saw the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Her point made, she removed her hands from him, turned and walked away, flipping the quarter she had liberated from his pocket into the air.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

With their list of electronics, equipment and supplies needed to outfit Castle they headed back upstairs to the Buy More. Each and every employee wore a fearful look. Rumors ran rampant about the new owners one of which was that the new owners were Amish and all the men working at the store would have to grow beards. Another said that all the employees would be fired and replaced by replicants. Every computer in the store was occupied by a Buy More employee either updating his or her résumé or scanning job websites.

"The natives are getting restless," Chuck said as they stood in the center of the store, surveying the frantic employees. "Morgan, you need to call a meeting and let them know what's going on."

"They won't believe anything I say," he replied, shaking his head. "I've given them the impression that I don't know what's going on either. They need to hear directly from the owners."

Sarah pulled out her iPhone and said, "Let me text Jen and see if she can come in for a meeting with the employees tomorrow morning. Maybe that will keep the riot at bay." Her fingers worked quickly over the touchscreen. Within a minute, the phone chirped indicating she had received a reply. She read it and said, "Jen says she can be here tomorrow morning before the store opens. She also sent a 'winky' emoticon thingy." Sarah's eyebrow rose at that. "I wonder what that's about."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Chuck said. "Maybe she's just excited about meeting everyone tomorrow."

Sarah nodded noncommittally, not really listening. She knew her friend and she knew was up to something. Sarah didn't know what it was, but figured it would be interesting. Jen was rather…unconventional. She really wanted to be there tomorrow, but couldn't figure out how she could explain herself attendance. She wasn't a Buy More employee and she couldn't say she was the owner. She shook her head and thought, _I'm a spy. I'll just hide myself somewhere and no one will know I'm there._

Chuck turned to Morgan and said, "Buddy, call a meeting for tomorrow morning. Tell them that they will be meeting with the representative of the new owners and that everyone needs to be there."

"Yes, sir," he said and saluted. Something was still bothering Morgan and he hesitated for a minute. He grew serious and said, "Chuck, we'll be able to get this thing out of my head, right?"

Chuck put his hand on Morgan's shoulder and looked him square in the eye. "Morgan, I promise that we will do everything within our power to make it happen. We just have to figure out a way to do it." Chuck smiled at his friend and added, "I've had the Intersect taken out or suppressed three times now. I think we can figure out a way for that to happen once for you."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chuck and Sarah sat at their dinner table, empty plates in front of them, leisurely sipping their wine. At the center of the table sat a bouquet of gardenias, a peace offering from Chuck. She had assured him that all was forgiven and promised that when supplies came to go into the supply closet, she would let him know. When she murmured something about doing terrible things to him with binder clips, sticky notes and a label maker, he was both excited and a little fearful.

Sarah picked up their plates and put them in the sink while Chuck carried their glasses of wine to the living room and set them on the coffee table. He sat down on the sofa and Sarah plopped down next to him a moment later. He put his arm across her shoulders and she snuggled down next to him.

They sat comfortably together for a few moments, each of them lost in their own thoughts. Chuck thought about how, when he first had the Intersect in his brain, all he wanted was to get it out. Then, when his father had successfully removed it, he purposely downloaded the Intersect 2.0. His mom had then suppressed it during his conflict with Volkoff. His dad's computer had reloaded it only to then have Decker and his thugs suppress it again just before the wedding. His success in getting the antidote for Sarah and saving her without the Intersect proved to him that he could certainly be a spy without it. He turned Jen's question over in his mind: "If you could get the Intersect back, Chuck, would you want it?" He had deflected answering the question at the time because he really did need to talk to Sarah about it and he really didn't know if he wanted it back or not.

He came out of his ruminations and smiled when he realized Sarah had his hand in hers and was twisting his wedding band around and around on his ring finger. He loved the gold band she gave him. As soon as she had placed it on his finger, he realized the ring had the important role of letting the world know that he belonged to Sarah Bartowski. He looked at the extraordinary woman sitting next to him and lovingly kissed her temple.

She turned her face up toward him and gave him a dazzling smile. He grinned back and then gave her a gentle kiss. When it ended, she nestled back down into him. He sighed and asked nervously, "Sarah, can we talk about the Intersect? About whether or not I should get it back? I mean if we _can_ get it back?"

He wasn't sure what kind of response he would get from her, so when she grinned up at him, he found himself grinning back in relief. "Why are you grinning?" he asked.

His breath caught when he saw her blue eyes shining. "I love the fact that you didn't want to answer that question until you and I had a chance to talk about it first. Even more than that, I love the fact that our marriage took priority over everything else, including our spy life or the Intersect. I love the fact that we are partners in every way."

He was sure she could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He really was the luckiest man in the world to be married to her. Married. He still had a hard time wrapping his head around that. He smiled at her as she continued.

"Chuck, you know I'll always love you, whether or not you have the Intersect. I think my time in Thailand has established that fact." He nodded. "You have also proven yourself to be an excellent spy, both with and without the Intersect. I have to point out, though, that you are the only person who seems to be the perfect host for the Intersect. So if there needs to be a person in the world with the Intersect, it should be you."

He thought about that for a minute. There had been others with the Intersect in the past: Hartley Winterbottom, his own father, the two Gretas, even Agent Tool-of-the-Century. She was right, though. He was the only person who had used the Intersect successfully for any length of time.

He looked into her eyes and said, "So the question is, 'Does the world need the Intersect?'"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was 7:55 am and the employees of the Buy More milled around expectantly near the front of the store. The greenshirts tucked in their shirts and the Nerd Herders straightened their ties. Sarah was hanging out in Morgan's office until Jen came in. She was going to hide behind some displays in the back of the store and watch the meeting from there. Chuck, Morgan and Casey spoke to each other in low voices, trying to act as nervous as the other employees. They didn't have to act, too much, though, because they were curious about this meeting. What exactly was Jen going to do? The woman was a 5 foot 2 inch librarian, wife and mother from Pasadena. She didn't exactly strike fear into the hearts of men.

Morgan's phone buzzed. He took it out of his pocket and read the text. "Jen's here. She wants me to get everyone lined up. Chuck, can you go open the door for her?"

"Sure, buddy. Let me just text Sarah and tell her to get into position. She wanted to watch this," Chuck said. He sent a quick text and then saw Sarah move into position. He walked toward the front door and prepared to unlock it.

Morgan raised his voice and said, "Okay, everyone. Line up. The new owners' representative is here. Her name is Jen Hatch and you need to give her your full attention."

Lester's head shot up at the mention of Jen's name. He leaned into Jeff and whispered loudly, "Isn't she the librarian?"

Jeff nodded. "Yeah. She really knows how to rock her 'mom-jeans,'" he burbled.

Lester leered. "Do you know what this means, Jeffrey? If she is involved, we'll never have to do another minute of work in this place. We can do nothing and collect our paycheck. This will be epic!"

Jeff nodded and happily thought about hours of uninterrupted nap time in the Home Theater Room.

It was exactly 8:00 am and the employees were lined up shoulder to shoulder. Chuck unlocked the front sliding doors. He did a double take at the woman who strode purposefully toward him. The first door slid open and then the second. He stood stock still, his mouth hanging open.

Morgan stood in front of the line, his eyebrows raised and his eyes wide.

Casey stood with his thumbs hooked through his front belt loops. A hint of an approving smile formed on his lips.

At the back of the store, Sarah put her hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. Oh, this was going to be good.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**A/N2**: Next time on _Return of the Ninja Librarian_:

Every head snapped toward Skip and his piece of paper. He held it reverently in his hand like it was the Golden Ticket that would get him into Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.


	4. Chapter 4 Mustang Sally

**A/N:** First of all, thank you for reading. There are a lot of really wonderful stories out there to read in Chuck fanfiction and I am truly humbled that you have stuck with this one. I want to give a special thank you to those of you who have reviewed this story as well. Those reviews really do keep me going, especially during those "this is crap" moments.

I hope this chapter meets your expectations. I'm sure most of your ideas of what Jen is up to exceeds what I came up with. Silly cliffhanger. Hoisted with my own petard.

I don't own Chuck. Is he even for sale?

**Chapter 4 – Mustang Sally**

It was 8 o'clock in the morning and the employees of the Burbank Buy More were about to meet for the first time the woman who was the liaison between them and the new owners. It had been decided that it would be best to keep Chuck and Sarah's identity as the new owners on the down low, so Jen had been recruited to work with the employees directly on their behalf. She had asked for and received from Chuck and Sarah approval to do pretty much whatever she wanted as their representative. They weren't, however, expecting this.

The front doors slid open and in strode Jen Hatch, librarian. Gone were the mom-jeans, T-shirt and Reebok trainers. In their place, she wore tight black jeans, a form fitting v-neck short sleeved black knit top that showed off her heretofore hidden…assets and four-inch heeled knee-high black leather boots. Her eyes were hidden by a pair of sleek, dark sunglasses. A slash of red lipstick adorned her lips. In her hand, she clutched an eighteen inch long black leather riding crop.

Every eye was on her as she entered the store. The invisible Buy More fan blew as she walked in slow motion toward the line of employees, her shoulder length blonde hair flowing in the breeze. As if by magic, every speaker in the store blasted Wilson Pickett singing _Mustang Sally_. The heels of Jen's boots clicked in perfect time with the driving beat of the song.

Sarah couldn't believe what she saw. It wasn't that Jen looked like a dominatrix or anything. No one would even notice her if she walked down the street in what she currently wore. Well, maybe they would notice the riding crop, but this was LA after all. It was that she looked so _different_. It was like one of those makeover episodes on _Oprah_ where the grateful husband looked tearfully at his newly coiffed, buffed, polished and styled hot wife. Sarah had to admit to herself that if she didn't already know Jen, she would be a little intimidated with her being around all the time. She smiled to herself when she thought _at least she's not a brunette_.

Jen closed in on the line of employees as all, both male and female, stared at her, mouths agape. The four-inch heels made her considerably taller and actually a little intimidating. She was now at least the same height as some of the employees. She stopped a few feet in front of them at the middle of the line and turned toward them smartly. She stood and faced them with her hands behind her back, the riding crop gently tapping the back of her left thigh. All eyes were glued to that flicking riding crop. The music mysteriously faded away and the room grew silent. She smoothly slid the sunglasses from her face, revealing her eyes. She usually wore no more makeup than some hastily applied mascara. Now the makeup applied around her eyes could be called "smokey." Her eyes now seemed much bluer than usual. Without turning her head she held the sunglasses in her left hand and raised her arm straight out to the side toward Morgan. He quickly took the hint, scurried over to Jen and took the sunglasses from her hand with a slight bow. He backed away slowly, afraid to turn his back on her. The nerves he showed were very real. His discomfort was not lost on the employees and several audible gulps were heard. The tension in the room grew as she stood before them, her piercing eyes studying each face in turn.

After a long moment, a smile erupted and Jen said in a strong, cheerful voice, "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the Burbank Buy More. Some of you know me, but for those of you who don't, my name is Jen Hatch. The new owners of Buy More have requested that I be the eyes, ears and voice here on their behalf. They are a wealthy couple who have generously invested in the Burbank community by purchasing this store and saving many jobs. They don't want hollow recognition, so they have requested that their identities remain anonymous." She looked down the line and was met by a couple of confused faces. "That means they don't want anyone knowing who they are," she clarified. The confused faces turned to smiles in understanding.

Sarah tried to stifle the giggle but was unable to stop its escape. Jen's eyes flicked to the back of the room where she spotted Sarah's hiding place. Jen's expression never changed, but her eyes flashed recognition and amusement, if only for a second. She brought her eyes back to the line of employees before her and continued in a strong voice, "The roster of employees and current job positions will remain the same. Your salary and hours will remain the exactly the same as they were before the sale of the store." She walked over to Morgan, stood next to him and said, "Morgan will remain store manager." She nodded toward Big Mike and added, "Big Mike will continue to be his assistant manager." Big Mike audibly sighed and wore a huge smile in relief. She narrowed her eyes at the line of employees and warned, "Treat them with respect." The riding crop, now held straight down along the side of her right leg, slapped the top of her boot forcefully.

She moved to where Chuck was standing at the end of the line and said, "Chuck, here, will remain the supervisor of the Nerd Herd."

A snort escaped from Lester and he rolled his eyes. "Of course she's going to keep her friend in that position," he muttered under his breath. He was a little hurt, too. "We gave her one of our special beers and this is the thanks we get," he said a little too loudly to Jeff.

There was a sudden rush of air and Jen instantly stood next to Lester, her face thunderous. "Is there a problem, Mr. Patel?" she asked in a low voice. She took the riding crop and placed the tip of it between Lester's shirt and his tie. She gave the crop a flick and the end of his tie flew up into his face.

His courage wavered as he whined, "But Jeff and I gave you one of our own home brewed bottles of beer." His nerve grew as he said, "It was a one of a kind gift and you have disrespected it."

Jen's face softened. "I appreciate the sacrifice you made in giving me that gift. I really do. But my personal relationships with anyone at this store cannot influence any staffing decisions." She threw her shoulders back and looked Lester directly in the eye. "Chuck is the Nerd Herd supervisor. Understand?"

Lester didn't look happy as he stared at the floor, but he nodded.

She smiled sweetly and said, "That's excellent, Lester. Thank you for being so understanding."

She stepped back a couple of paces and continued, "Nothing will change around here." That statement was met with smiles of relief from everyone. "Yet," she finished. The smiles quickly faded.

"This is a business, not social club. You are here to work hard and make a profit for the store." Jen watched their reactions to that statement very closely. One Nerd Herder, a tall, skinny kid with red, curly hair and glasses, smiled at her statement. She sidled up next to him and asked quietly, "Why did you smile when I spoke about making money for the store," she glanced at his nametag, "Skip?"

He barely spoke above a whisper when he said, "Because when we make money for the store, we keep our jobs."

Jen smiled benevolently at Skip and said, "That's right, Skip. Well said." She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small rectangular piece of paper. "Here, have a coupon for a free pizza."

Every head snapped toward Skip and his piece of paper. He held it reverently in his hand like it was the Golden Ticket that would get him into Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Suddenly, they all stood a little straighter and watched Jen more intently.

"We will have to work hard because this store must turn a profit, even in this bad economy. I will not allow the owners to lose money. At all. Ever. It is my fiduciary responsibility to ensure that." She was once again met with a few blank stares.

"It means she's responsible for their money invested in this store," one of the female greenshirts said bravely. Most of the faces cleared with comprehension, but a couple remained unsure.

Jen smiled again and walked over to the greenshirt who had just spoken. She looked at her nametag and said, "Well, Bunny, I couldn't have said it better myself. I see you've worked here since 2001. That's a long time."

Bunny nodded and answered, "Yes, ma'am. Ten years."

Jen looked kindly into Bunny's eyes and asked, "Have you ever been rewarded for your longtime service here?"

Bunny looked stunned by the question. Her gaze fell to the floor when she simply answered, "No."

"Well, you should." She reached into her back pocket again and pulled out another rectangular piece of paper. She looked at it and then handed it to Bunny. "Here is a gift certificate for a free massage at the day spa down the street. On behalf of the owners of the Buy More, I would like to say 'thank you' for your longtime service."

Bunny's eyes glistened with gratitude as she held the certificate tightly between her fingers. She blinked quickly a couple of times to keep the tears from escaping.

Chuck glanced down the line of employees, searching their faces. He could tell that they had been wary of Jen when she had first entered the store. Now he could almost see the wheels turning in their heads, trying to figure out ways to say the right thing so Jen would give them one of those prized pieces of paper in her pocket. She had only been there for five minutes and she had them eating out of her hand. As much as he wanted to shake his head in wonder, he didn't want to break character as a concerned Buy More employee, so he worked to keep his face stoic.

Jen began to pace up and down in front of the "troops" as she spoke again. "I will be keeping a close eye on the books. I will be watching sales figures closely, not only for the store as a whole, but also for individual salespeople. I will be reading customer evaluations from Nerd Herd installations," she said pointedly at Jeff and Lester. Lester wanted to sneer, but the riding crop in her hand kept his face neutral. Jeff simply swayed, his eyes never wavering from her chest.

She looked at Morgan and said, "Morgan, I want to see the EVA profit margin, so can you get that ready for me?"

Thinking it was part of her act Morgan gave her a relaxed smile and replied, "Sure." When he realized she was serious, he stood up straighter and spluttered, "Yes, of course." He gave her a little salute. She rewarded him with a quick wink.

Casey stood the whole time with his thumbs in his front belt loops. This whole thing amused him greatly. Of course that didn't show on his face, although there had been a pleased grunt when Lester's tie had been flicked. Jen walked over to him and said, "I understand you're quite the BeastMaster maven. My husband and I will come by soon and you can help us pick out a new grill." One corner of his mouth rose in a crooked smile. Her eyes danced with amusement.

She stepped back in order to address everyone again. "I will be around the Buy More almost every day. If any of you have any questions for the owners or concerns you would like me to pass on to them, please feel free to talk to me. Now, I must be on my way. I have to meet with the owners and let them know how well this little meeting went." With that she turned on her heel and strode toward the front doors. Just before she exited the store, she called over her shoulder, "Oh, and by the way, there are donuts in the break room. Have a great morning!" With that she was gone.

Everyone stood stalk still in stunned silence. Even Sarah, who maintained her hiding place at the back of the store, didn't move. Then, like a dam breaking, a cacophony of noise exploded as they all started talking at once. Suddenly remembering the donuts, they stampeded toward the break room, their feet pounding floor. It was like the running of the bulls in Pamplona only more dangerous. Big Mike took the lead as no one dare get in his path lest they be trampled. He was surprising quick for being a large man.

Chuck, Casey and Morgan brought up the rear of the herd and were the last to enter the break room. Chuck watched as the women descended upon Bunny, anxious to see the coveted massage gift certificate she still held tightly in her grip. The men circled around Skip, hoping to be included in the free pizza. Chuck listened to the chatter so as to ascertain the mood of the employees and their reaction to Jen. From what he was hearing, it was mostly positive. Lester, of course, was unhappy, but that was nothing new. Even Jeff gave Skip a slap on the back for speaking up and receiving a free pizza.

Chuck's phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket and read the message. "Guys," he said quietly, "Sarah's going to meet Jen down in Castle. Do you want to come?"

"Naw," Casey answered. "I'll stay up here and listen in on some conversations and gauge the reaction to that little performance." He shook his head and said with a smirk, "That was really something."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

With the Buy More staff busy with their donuts, Sarah slipped past the break room and headed downstairs to Castle. She had received a text from Jen asking Sarah to meet her there. That's when Sarah texted Chuck, asking him to come downstairs as well.

Sarah sat at the only table in the still empty Castle, waiting for Jen and Chuck. As a spy, Sarah had played many different roles: drunk party girl, Nerd Herder, nurse, waitress, hooker, hotel employee, receptionist, scientist. The list went on. She could have done what Jen just did in her sleep. But that was just the thing. It was Jen who had just done that, not Sarah. Her unassuming librarian friend had just inhabited a completely different persona, and done so very convincingly.

Sarah saw Chuck bounce down the stairs. He came over to her and gave her a quick kiss. He looked around and asked, "Jen's not here yet?"

Sarah shook her head, "No, she was going to move her car to the back of the building by the loading dock. She should be here any minute."

Just then the door flew open and Jen started down the stairs. Chuck and Sarah grinned and broke out in a round of applause. Jen was surprised at first and then straightened her back and raised her head high. She plastered a fake beauty contestant smile on her face and slowed her descent down the staircase. With one hand on the hand rail, she raised her other hand and waved like the Queen acknowledging her subjects. She made a deep bow when she came off the last step. She grinned as she walked toward Chuck and Sarah.

"Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week and don't forget to tip your waitress," Jen joked.

"Well, that was unexpectedly awesome," Chuck said with a voice full of laughter.

"So you liked my little performance?" She grimaced a little and asked, "It wasn't too much, was it? I wanted to make a strong first impression."

Both Chuck and Sarah laughed at that. "Well, I think you did _that_," Sarah replied. She looked down at Jen's feet. Gone were the high-heeled boots. They were replaced by a pair of black Chucks. "Where are those kick-ass boots you were wearing? I love those!"

Jen's winced at the memory of the pain and replied, "Oh, they were killing me. I never wear shoes like that in real life. I changed into these as soon as humanly possible."

Chuck wiggled his eyebrows and asked, "So, did Mark see you in that outfit before you came here?"

Both Chuck and Sarah knew the answer to that question before Jen ever opened her mouth. Her face turned four different shades of red. "Yeah," she replied shyly. "He wants me to wear it, boots and all, when he takes me out to dinner tonight." She giggled and said, "My daughter was both horrified and scandalized when she saw Mark's reaction when he first saw me this. She looked like she wanted to claw her eyes out. She literally ran from the room. It was actually pretty hilarious. Teenagers don't like to think their parents ever…" she trailed off as she flushed an even deeper shade of red. Sarah pressed her lips together to keep the grin under control.

Chuck cleared his throat and changed the subject. "The riding crop was a nice touch," he said. "Very Colonel Klink."

Sarah shot him a confused look, but Jen just laughed. "Yeah, I decided to skip the monocle, though. I hope I was a little more intimidating than Klink. I'm not a very commanding person, so I thought having a prop might help me be a little more imposing." She grew serious and asked, "So, how did all of that go over with the 'troops?' I was serious when I said that I want to make sure this store makes money. Even if you two have a gazillion dollars, I want to make sure you don't lose a cent on this place."

"I listened to the conversations in the break room before I came down here. Morgan and Casey are still up there, acquiring intelligence. I think most employees are on board. The coupons were genius. I could see them all trying to figure out ways to get a reward for themselves," Chuck replied.

Jen smiled, "Positive reinforcement. It works every time. If you catch them doing something right and reward them, they keep trying to do good things to get another reward. It works with kids, dogs, adults, fanfiction writers…"

At that, Chuck's face scrunched in confusion. Then she shrugged slightly and continued, "You're going to have to keep an eye out for Lester. He has a problem with authority."

Jen nodded, "Yeah. I've been thinking about how to handle him. He acts like a three-year-old." Her eyebrows shot up. They could practically see the light bulb above her head. "In fact, I _will_ treat him like a three-year-old having a temper tantrum. I'll just ignore him. I'm not sure it will work, though."

They nodded in agreement. Neither Chuck nor Sarah had been around thee-year-olds, but ignoring Lester always sounded like a good plan. It was worth a try, anyway.

"So, I guess I'm done here today?" Jen asked. Chuck looked at Sarah who shrugged and nodded.

"We made a list of the things we need to purchase from the Buy More, so if you're up to coming in tomorrow and buying the stuff upstairs on our behalf, that would be great," Chuck said.

"Roger that. I may not wear the boots, though," she said. She relented when she saw the disappointment etched on their faces. "Oh, alright," she sighed in mock exasperation, "I'll wear the boots." She moved toward the stairs and said as the climbed them, "By the way, I'll buy supplies for the supply closet, but I'm not going to put the stuff in there myself. I figure you two would enjoy doing that." She waited a beat and then called back, "You can thank me later," as the door shut behind her.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Next time on _Return of the Ninja Librarian_:

She smirked at him and rolled her eyes. She rolled up her pant leg to reveal her cache of throwing knives strapped around her ankle. She slid one out of the holster and handed it to him.

His mouth hung open. "God, you're hot," was all he could manage.


	5. Chapter 5 Twin Pines

**A/N**: Thank you so much for those who took my not so subtle hint and reviewed the last chapter. That was awesome! So as a thank you for all of the wonderful reviews and for putting up with four chapters of getting Jen up to speed and integrated into the team, I now give you a whole chapter of Chuck and Sarah alone time. And I actually move the plot along. What's that you say? There's a plot? Why, yes. Yes there is. Enjoy.

Don't own Chuck or any of the other shows I blatantly rip off in my stories.

**Chapter 5 – Twin Pines**

It was a glorious day to take a drive in the mountains. The black Lotus Evora hugged the curves in the road as they climbed in elevation. Sarah loved driving the Lotus. She bought it soon after the engagement party when stupid, perky Amy blew up her Porsche. Thanks to a well timed flash from Chuck on the less than honest car salesman, she had been able to get the Evora for a great price. It was a fabulous car, but on a day like today, she wished she could put the top down like she had been able to do in the Porsche. They had the windows down, though, so they were able breathe in the fresh, piney scent in the air.

As much as she wanted to hold Chuck's hand while she drove, the twists and turns in the road kept both hands occupied. She would make it up to him later. She glanced over at her husband as he fiddled with his iPod which had been plugged into the car's audio system. In his long term project of educating her musically, he had been exposing her to different genres of music. Some she liked more than others. Some gave her a splitting headache and had a difficult time understanding how the noise she heard could be considered music at all. She found that overall she was drawn to jazz standards and the blues. They had lyrics that moved her and often felt like the vocalists were singing about her. Some of the songs reminded her of the fits and starts she and Chuck had at the beginning of their relationship. Some reminded her of the crappy times after Prague when they barely spoke. Although listening to those songs was difficult, doing so was also cathartic. She could think back on how much they had been through together and appreciate where they were now. Jen had helped her find the perfect song to play for Chuck on their honeymoon. After that, he had become a big fan of standards as well and downloaded a number of them on his iPod for her. Melting her with his smile, he pushed the play button and the music of _When I Fall in Love_ filled the Lotus.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The night before their trip to the mountains, Chuck had typed up the list of items to be purchased at the Buy More to get Castle back in shape and e-mailed it to Jen. She would be the one to purchase those items on their behalf. They assumed she would continue her "positive reinforcement" scheme with the Buy More employees and looked forward to hearing what happened when they returned from their day trip.

Next, Chuck informed Sarah that he wanted to drive up to his dad's Twin Pines cabin. He had some ideas about how to get the Intersect out of Morgan's head and he needed some help from his dad. He also needed a place to start when trying to figure out what Clyde Decker was talking about when Decker said all of what had happened to them had been planned. The Intersect seemed like the central piece in the whole puzzle and since his father was the lead developer of it, he needed to start with him. He needed to get in touch with him again, if only through the things he may have left behind. The house in Encino with all of his dad's files and inventions had been blown up. The cabin was the only place left of his father's to look for him.

Chuck hadn't been to the cabin since he had lured Alexei Volkoff there and captured him months before. General Beckman and her army escort took Volkoff into custody as Chuck and Morgan flew in a helicopter to Burbank since Ellie was about to have her baby. He simply left the cabin to Beckman and company. He had no idea what state they had left it in.

The gravel crunched under the tires as the Lotus turned off the asphalt, into the dirt drive toward the cabin. The cabin was still standing, so that was a good sign. A stack of cut wood stood on the porch against the wall and the cable spool table remained near the front door. The car rolled to a stop and Sarah turned off the engine.

It was hard coming back to where he and his father had spent time together. He missed his dad; his crazy, brilliant, paranoid, eccentric, loving dad. Memories began to flood into Chuck's brain and threatened to overwhelm him with regret and grief. He took a deep breath and tried to regain control of his emotions.

He sat frozen in his seat, his hands on his thighs, staring at the front of the cabin. He turned his head and gazed into Sarah's face when he felt her hand on his. The comforting squeeze he felt reminded him he was not alone and he was glad about that.

"Are you okay?" she asked gently. Her gaze met his and asked, "Are you ready?"

He put his other hand over hers and gave her a grateful smile. "Now I am," he replied.

She put her hand on the handle to open her door, but he stopped her with his hand on her arm and said quietly, "Wait." Ever her chivalric husband, she waited for him to open her door.

He got out of the car, came around to her side of the car and opened her door. She took his hand and lightly stepped out. They approached the cabin hand in hand. The heels of Sarah's boots echoed on the wooden planks as they stepped together onto the porch. Chuck put his hand on the door knob and tried to turn it, gratified to find the door was locked. He slipped his hand into his pocket and fished out his keys. Finding the right key, he slipped it into the keyhole and turned it. His stomach clenched as he swung the door open.

He took a tentative step into the gloomy room. It was a bright, sunny day outside, but the pulled down blinds and the closed curtains over the windows gave the room a depressing feel. When he stepped into the room a little further, Sarah slipped in behind him and immediately went to the windows, pushed open the curtains and rolled up the blinds. The room was flooded with light which chased away the gloominess. Tiny dust particles liberated from the curtains shimmered and danced in the shafts of sunlight pouring in through the open windows.

"No one has been here for awhile," Sarah noted, pointing to the table and desk, both covered in a thick layer of dust. "There's dust on everything."

Chuck replied with a slight nod and scanned the room. It seemed like everything was where he had left it months before. The old chair still sat in front of the window. The large landscape painting and the stuffed fish still hung on the walls. Several hurricane lamps and a lantern sat on the table. The woven area rug was still in place. And yet, the room felt strangely empty.

When the realization as to why the room seemed so empty hit him, he felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. "They took all of my father's books and papers. The only stuff left is the furniture." His shoulders slumped. The clutter that was a critical element in the makeup Stephen Bartowski was gone.

"I'm sure they grabbed everything left behind. My guess is that they've had analysts going through all of it looking for anything useful." She came to him and gently placed a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry, Chuck," she said quietly. The dejection and grief written on his face nearly broke her heart. He gave her a half-hearted smile and put his arm around her, pulling her in for a much needed hug.

"They took it all. I have so little of him left," he murmured sadly. He felt as empty as the room. A fresh wave of unbidden grief washed over him. His eyes stung with sorrow and regret. "He's missed so much, Sarah. Clara being born, you and me getting married, getting my mom back." He scowled and asked, "And for what? Apparently everything we've done was part of a plan we know nothing about. We were all just being used. All of this was for nothing." His voice rose in anger at the senselessness of his father's death and his frustration of not knowing why they had all been manipulated. His jaw clenched as he fought to keep from either throwing a chair through a window or breaking down into sobs.

Gently, two hands took one of his and eased him slowly toward the leather loveseat. He felt like he was moving under water and his brain was full of mush. He sat down heavily and with elbows on knees, dropped his head in his hands. She sank down next to him, laid her arm across his back and from behind rested her chin on his shoulder. She gently placed her other hand on his arm.

They stayed that way for a long awhile. Neither of them spoke. When Sarah broke the silence, it was with a soft, yet firm voice. "Yes, Chuck, your father's death was senseless and tragic. You will never fully recover from it. But don't ever think for a second that what we've done was for nothing. We caught a lot of bad guys and saved a lot of good people from being hurt. We did what we had to do given what we were confronted with at the time. Please don't second guess yourself." Her chin remained firmly on his shoulder as her body was nearly draped across his.

The anger and hurt began to dissipate as her words broke through the fog in his head.

"This may sound crazy," she said, "but I'm thankful to whoever manipulated us because they got one thing right." His head shot up and he looked at her in confusion. He saw the intensity in her eyes when they bored into his. "I met you."

All the negative emotions which had nearly crushed him crumbled to dust under the weight of that simple fact. She was right. Although bad stuff had happened to them, there was a lot of good that had come from everything, too. He would be eternally grateful to whoever manipulated them for the day Sarah Walker, superspy, walked into the Burbank Buy More.

His furrowed brow relaxed and the anger and frustration in eyes melted into love and gratitude. He did the only thing he could think of. He put cupped her face in his hands and gently, tenderly, softly kissed her. He pulled away and drank in the look of love in her incredibly blue eyes. "Thank you," he whispered.

Her eyes held his as she whispered in reply, "You're welcome."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

With Chuck's arm around her shoulders and Sarah snuggled down into his side, they sat on the loveseat while he tried to regain his equilibrium after the emotional rollercoaster he felt like he was on. Sarah patiently sat with him, her presence giving him strength. Finally, glancing toward the wall where he knew his father's computer sat, Chuck asked, "Should I even bother to see if the computer behind the wall still works?"

Sarah sat up straighter and answered, "Are you sure you're up to it? We can go home and come back another time."

"No, we're here now. Let's do this."

She was still worried about him, but agreed. "Okay."

He breathed deeply and stood up. He walked toward the desk and pushed the button on his watch that should have raised the panel to reveal the video screens and slide out the keyboard. Nothing happened.

"Maybe there's no electricity," Sarah ventured.

"I think there's a portable generator out back. I'll go see if I can fire it up."

He went out the door and circled around to the back of the cabin to work on the generator. With her arms crossed in front of her, she wandered aimlessly around the room, taking in the different decorations on the walls. She stepped toward a brown, white and orange quilt hanging on the wall so that she could get a better look at it. When she stepped forward, the floor beneath the heel of her boot had a different sound than the rest of the floor. She glanced down and saw a thin cut in the wooden floor running perpendicular to the planks. She knelt down to get a closer look. Her eyes followed the cut to where it ran under the end of a hope chest which sat under the window next to the quilt. A surge of excitement shot through her and she shouted, "Chuck, come here!"

She heard his feet pound the ground as he ran along the side of the cabin back toward the front door. He burst into the room with a panicked look. "Sarah, are you okay?" he yelled when he saw her crouched near the corner of the room. He rushed to her side.

At first she was taken aback by his actions and then realized what she had done. She quickly stood up and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "I'm sorry," she said with a sheepish smile. "I didn't mean to scare you. But look what I found." She knelt back down, grabbed his hand and pulled him into a crouch next to her. She traced her finger along the cut in the wood until it disappeared under the hope chest. His eyes grew wide with understanding. He stood, grabbed the chest and pulled it away from the wall revealing an 18 by 18 inch square cut in the floor.

"Sarah, quick," he said excitedly. "Go over to that kitchen stand over there by the stove and find me some kind of utensil to help pry this piece of floor up. There's no handle or anything."

She smirked at him and rolled her eyes. She rolled up her pant leg to reveal her cache of throwing knives strapped around her ankle. She slid one out of the holster and handed it to him.

His mouth hung open. "God, you're hot," was all he could manage.

She wanted to say something snarky, but she was pleased by his comment so she winked at him and flashed him a heart stopping grin. His eyes glazed over and he became inert. When she realized his brain had completely seized, she gave him a gentle shove on the shoulder and said, "Earth to Chuck. Come in, Chuck."

His eyes refocused and cried in mock exasperation, "Why did you have to rip me away from my happy place, woman?"

Her eyes danced. He was just so dang cute. She put her hand on the back of his neck, pulled him close and gave him a searing kiss. She mumbled into his mouth, "Get the floor open, Chuck."

"Yes, ma'am," he murmured, thoroughly kissing her in return. He broke the kiss that left them both breathless. "I'll get the floor open now."

He gave himself a minute to focus so he wouldn't accidentally slice off a finger with his wife's incredibly sharp knife. Finally ready, he stuck the knife into the seam and popped the square up just enough so Sarah could slide her fingers into the gap and grab hold. She pulled up on it and Chuck grabbed the edge of the square as well. They lifted it up and set it off to the side. They peered down into the shallow hole and saw a floor safe nestled in a cocoon of cement.

They looked at each other and grinned.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They sat cross legged on the floor of the cabin, looking down at the safe. It was clear to them both that it had been installed some time ago. It was the normal gray color and had a round combination lock. Since it was encased in cement, there was no way it was going to be removed from its current location.

"So, Chuck, can you open it?"

He frowned and pointed to his head, "No Intersect, remember?"

She slapped his arm and said sarcastically, "Oh, I'd forgotten." She waited a beat and reminded him, "You have your own smarts, Mr. Bartowski. Figure it out. What numbers would your dad use for the combination?"

"Well, Mrs. Bartowski, I don't know," he teased. "You're the safe cracker. You opened that bank vault the time I was stuck in it with my man Zamir."

"I also had special equipment to help me open it, which I don't have with me now." She giggled. "You two were completely out of your gourds on nitrous. You were so adorable." Her eyes clouded for a moment as she remembered the circumstances of that day. She almost left him. Not that she wanted to, but she was following orders. Thankfully, in the end, she returned to him and was able to stay his handler.

That was also the day she found out where Chuck's dad was living, that trailer out in the middle of nowhere. On an impulse, Sarah reached out and placed her hand on his neck just behind his ear. She pulled him in and kissed him.

When she pulled away he asked, "What was that for?" He quickly added, "Not that I mind or anything."

"I owed you a kiss. Remember when we were standing outside your dad's trailer when we finally tracked him down the first time? You had just knocked on the door and he didn't answer right away. You thought it was just another dead end. I had never seen you look as sad as you did at that moment. I was about to kiss you when that damn door flew open," she finished with a laugh.

"Oh, I remember." He was thoughtful for a moment and then asked, "So, is this a new thing? Making up for all of the 'almost moments' from our past? If it is, then I think we need to go back to a certain motel in Barstow." He wiggled his eyebrows.

She frowned. "How is it that Morgan is still alive? I thought you were going to kill him for that," she growled.

"Yeah, well, Casey and Fulcrum sort of distracted me."

"Uh huh," she smirked. "I don't think the motel would let us stay there even if we wanted to. We killed their radiator and had a shootout in the parking lot."

"Yeah, maybe," he said noncommittally.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Chuuuuck, what are you thinking?"

"I'm just wondering how far we are from Barstow," he said truthfully. "I mean, I do _owe_ you…"

Her resolve was beginning to crumble. They were only about 90 minutes away. A warm feeling suffused her as she thought back to that morning. Oh, taking off for Barstow was very tempting. She flicked an eyebrow up and down. "We can talk about _that_ later. Right now we need to get this safe open."

He dragged his eyes away from her and looked back down at the safe. "So, how many numbers will it take to open this?"

She leaned closer and examined the dial. She spun it a couple of times and looked at it again. "It looks like a standard three wheel lock. The numbers go from 0 to 99, so those are your options. If he set the combination himself, he might have used a birthday, anniversary, something like that. If he used the factory set combination, we're screwed. We'll have to leave it and come back with some electronic lock picking equipment."

Chuck listened intently and nodded. "Let's try some dates and see if any of them work." He spun the dial around a couple of times and tried his dad's birthday. He tried to turn the handle, but it wouldn't budge. He tried his mom's birthday, also to no avail. Ellie's birthday, his birthday and his parent's anniversary all ended with the same crappy result.

"Chuck, it's okay. We'll go back to Echo Park, get some equipment and come back soon and open it."

He sighed as he didn't want to give up yet. They were so close. He wracked his brain trying to think of a significant day in his father's life. The answer hit him like a ton of bricks.

His hands were sweaty and he wiped them on his pants before he tried one last combination: 11-21-80, the day his father uploaded the Intersect into Hartley Winterbottom , changing his family forever. His long fingers deftly spun the dial right-11, left-21, right-80. He grabbed the handle and held his breath. He gave it a twist and the handle turned under the pressure. He blew out his breath, pulled up on the door and opened the safe.

It was full of folded papers. He lifted one out and unfolded it. When fully opened, it grew to the size of a newspaper. It was a blueprint or schematic of some kind. Sarah peered at it, but to her it just looked like a bunch of lines with 90 degree angles. Most of the lines ran parallel to each other and ended in a square or rectangle. There were also random letters, number and symbols. Chuck scanned it, trying to figure out what it was. He gasped.

"Chuck, what is it?"

"Sarah, this is the hardware schematic for my dad's wrist computer," his voice brimmed with excitement. "See? Look, there's the microprocessor and all the chipset integration," pointing to the squares, rectangles and lines. She didn't see any of it.

"I'm sorry Chuck, but I don't see it. I feel like Neo in that scene in _The Matrix_ where Cypher looks at the computer monitors and sees blondes, brunettes and redheads but all Neo sees is a cascade of weird green symbols." Her eyebrows furrowed at the goofy grin on his face. "What?"

"You're the most beautiful nerd there ever was," he breathed, his eyes brimming with adoration.

She grinned back happily at his compliment.

He slowly walked over to the table and placed the open schematic down. He leaned over it, taking it all in. Then he stood and looked at her. Sarah took a sharp breath when she saw Chuck's eyes flash with anticipation. "You want to build this thing, don't you?" she asked in amusement.

"Maybe," he answered coolly, trying to act like it wasn't a big deal. His grin indicated otherwise.

"Uh huh. Chuck, sweetie, there are other schematics in the safe. You need to figure out what they are for."

"Sorry. I got so excited I forgot about the other stuff."

He moved back to the safe, knelt down and pulled out another schematic. He opened it up and scanned it. His brow furrowed and placed this schematic on top of the other one on the table. He continued to do this until the safe was finally empty and Chuck had scanned them all. With awe in his voice, he said, "These are the schematics to build my dad's laptop. Sarah, I can build my dad's laptop."

"Oh, Chuck, I'm so happy for you." She knew how important his dad's work was to him.

"We might have a problem, though. We need his software, too." He looked over at the panel where the computer sat behind it. "Maybe it's still on the computer here," he said hopefully.

He bolted out the front door, ran to the back of the cabin and started the generator. One of the lamps on the wall immediately turned on. He sprinted back into the cabin and pressed the button on his watch. The panel slid up to reveal the monitors as they flickered to life. The keyboard assembly slid out into the center of the desk. Chuck pulled a chair in front of the monitors and sat down. He started typing furiously, reading the code as it scrolled up the largest center screen. He typed, scanned and scrolled for a good five minutes while Sarah stood behind him with her hands on his shoulders. She waited expectantly to hear the verdict as to whether or not any of Orion's software was there. She knew the answer when she felt his shoulders slump.

"It's all gone, Sarah. The CIA, NSA, whoever, took everything, all of my father's code. I looked everywhere. They wiped the hard drive completely. They even ran a program to obliterate any fragments of software that might have been recovered." He sounded like he was on the verge of tears when he added, "And they installed Windows Vista."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Next time on _Return of the Ninja Librarian_:

"Casey, don't you think you've had enough?" Morgan said, gently slapping Casey's hand. "That's your third," he nagged.

"Back off, Grimes," Casey warned.

"Fine, but don't complain to me when you've put on five pounds," Morgan sulked.


	6. Chapter 6 Furniture and Donuts

**A/N**: Not much to say, really. The plot marches on.

Please hit that review button. See it at the end of the page? Yeah, that one. Click it. You know you want to.

I don't own Chuck. If I did, I would be at Comic Con this weekend.

**Chapter 6 – Furniture and Donuts**

When they realized there was no useful software on the computer in Stephen Bartowski's Twin Pines cabin, Chuck and Sarah spent some time checking around for any other hidden stashes of documents or files. They knocked on the walls to see if they could hear the telltale hollow echo of a hidden panel, door or safe. There were none. Neither was there anything found when they checked under and behind every piece of furniture. When Sarah leaned over to check under the cushions of the love seat, Chuck snuck up behind her and grabbed her around the waist. He spun around and fell flat on his back onto the love seat so that she landed on top of him, her back to his abdomen. They were both too tall for this particular piece of furniture, so their legs hung off the side. Ever the agile superspy, Sarah flipped over and positioned herself on top of Chuck so that now it was only her lower legs and feet that hung off the end of the love seat. This also gave her better access to his lips which she promptly proved by smashing them with hers. He groaned with desire and plunged his tongue into her mouth. With one hand on the small of her back, he tangled the other in her hair. Not to be outdone, her tongue launched an offensive of its own. Both engaged in frontal assaults and after some serious troop movement, the skirmish subsided slightly. Chuck saw a weakness in Sarah's defenses, flanked to the right and went for her earlobe. When his lips captured it and he gave it a gentle suck, her body gave such an involuntary jerk she nearly fell off him and onto the floor.

"Alright, buster, you're in for it," she growled and soon clothes were flying all different directions. The sounds that came from the cabin caused birds and small woodland creatures to flee in fear and head deeper into the forest. At first, the short length of the love seat proved to be a challenge, but was soon overcome by some creative positioning and Sarah's flexibility. A good time was had by all.

"I don't think anything like _that_ has ever happened in this cabin before," Chuck boasted sometime later as he pulled his shirt on over his head.

She shot him a saucy look as she strolled over to where her top had come to rest, draped over the stuffed and mounted fish on the wall. She took the top off the fish and slipped it on. Taking a closer look at the fish, she asked, "What's the deal with this fish, Chuck?"

"I have no idea. Maybe we should ask Big Mike." He laughed and said, "He still hasn't forgiven you for not buying a Toyota Tundra so we could take him fishing up here."

When he realized she hadn't replied to his Big Mike comments, he glanced her way. She was looking intently into the fish's mouth. "There's something in there," she said cautiously.

He walked over to her as she took the plaque off the wall and tipped it so that the fish's head pointed down. After a couple of shakes, something metallic fell to the floor. He bent over and picked up a small key. He held it up so they both could examine it.

"It's too small for a house or car key. And it's the wrong shape for a safe deposit box key," she said.

He nodded, "It could be to just about anything, anywhere. Although I don't think it's a key to anything in this cabin. I think we made a pretty through search, don't you?"

"Yeah, there's definitely nothing in the love seat," she deadpanned.

He took his key ring out of his pocket and put the new key on it for safe keeping. He shrugged and said, "Well, another mystery courtesy of my dad."

She nodded and moved over to the safe where she closed its door, locked it and spun the dial a couple of times. Together they placed the piece of floor over the safe and moved the chest back into its original position. Chuck refolded the schematics and placed them securely under his arm. They both stood at the open front door, scanning the room to make sure it looked the same as it did when they entered it a few hours earlier.

"Oh, one more thing," Sarah said as she went to each window, pulled down the blinds and closed the curtains. "Now we can go," she said.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was early evening when they arrived back at their apartment. They had decided to stop at an In-N-Out for dinner on the drive home. As always, Sarah enjoyed her animal style Double-Double with great enthusiasm; to Chuck's enjoyment and to other's embarrassment. He figured some people thought she was putting on a show for him, or them, or both, but he knew the truth. It was one of the first real things he ever knew about her, that his wife loved a good cheeseburger with extra pickles. In-N-Out made the best, so to him her reaction only made sense.

They had spent much of the drive home discussing their next moves in their missions to get the Intersect out of Morgan's head and to figure out who or what Decker was talking about. They were pleased when they found a nugget of an idea as to how get the Intersect out of Morgan's head.

They sat on the couch next to each other with their feet propped up on the coffee table. "Sarah, are you up for a meeting tomorrow morning with the team? I'd like to fill them in on what happened up at the cabin." She raised an eyebrow. He grinned and said, "Let me rephrase that. I'd like to fill them in on what we _found_ up at the cabin."

"Better," she said as she gave him a peck on the lips. "Sure, sweetie. You want to text them or should I?"

"I'll do it. Ten o'clock okay?"

She cocked her head to one side and thought for a moment. "Yeah, that should be fine," she answered.

He sent out the texts and thirty seconds later he received his first response.

_SmprFi: Affirmative._

Chuck showed the text to Sarah and she snickered, "Typical Casey."

His phone chirped again and read the text from Morgan. His eyebrows shot up and angled the phone so Sarah could read it. Her face scrunched in confusion.

_Cobra: Hey buddy, totally up for it. Dude, I flashed on something today, but it was triggered by watching a video of a squirrel water skiing behind a tiny boat, so I'm not sure if it's important. Text me._

"We've gotta get that thing out of his head," Sarah said. Chuck nodded agreement.

A few second later, the third text was received.

_JHatch: I'll be there. Say 'hi' to Sarah for me (:_

"Jen says, 'hi,'" Chuck said.

Sarah smiled. It felt good to have a friend like Jen. She pulled out her own phone and texted, "Hi (:"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Castle was still pretty empty when Chuck and Sarah arrived the next morning, but things were definitely different. Lined up along one wall were several bags from Office Galaxy, a couple of boxes of what looked like office paper, and several large, flat boxes with pictures of computer stands on them. There were also several leather executive office chairs around the conference table. The chairs that had been previously "borrowed" from the Buy More break room were now gone.

Chuck looked at the computer stand boxes while Sarah knelt down and peeked into the Office Galaxy bags. The bags were filled with office supplies: pens, pencils, notepads, tape, paper clips, sticky notes, binder clips, everything an office could need. Sarah glanced over her shoulder and said happily, "Hey, Chuck. The office supplies are here." Her eyes gleamed when she informed him, "There's a label maker."

His knees buckled slightly and he could feel a slight sheen of perspiration spring out on his forehead. "Um, great?"

"Don't worry, Chuck. It won't hurt. Much," she smiled wickedly.

He was saved from further torture when the door to Castle flew open and Jen bounded down the stairs carrying a large pink box and a tray of Starbucks coffees.

"Hey, guys! It's good to see you! I brought donuts," she said brightly as she placed the box of donuts and tray of coffee on the table. She glanced around the room and asked, "Where are Casey and Morgan?"

"They should be here in a few minutes," Chuck answered. "They were going to drive in together and Morgan is probably taking too long to get ready."

Jen nodded in understanding. She giggled and said, "I can just see Casey standing in the middle of the living room, dressed and ready to go. He glances at his watch every 10 seconds and then yells, 'Come on. We're going to be late. How long does it take to get ready?'" Her eyes danced as she continued, "And then Morgan yells back, 'I'll be just another minute. I'm still fixing my hair!'" She laughed out loud.

Chuck laughed and grimaced at the same time. "It's actually not that far from the truth. I've been over there in the morning when they're eating breakfast together. They're like an old married couple."

Jen laughed harder at that. "I knew it!"

Sarah just shook her head and laughed.

When her laughter subsided, she turned to the tray of coffee, pulled a cup out of it and handed it to Sarah. "A latte for you," she said. She took another cup from the tray and handed it to Chuck. "And a caramel macchiato for Chuck." Chuck's eyebrows rose as he looked over at Sarah who simply shrugged.

"Jen, how did you know…" Chuck started. Then he smiled and said, "You know what? Never mind."

She just winked at Chuck and continued, "I got a caffé Americano for Casey and," she stopped and whispered conspiratorially, "decaf for Morgan. Don't tell him."

At that moment, the door to Castle swung open and Casey started down the steps, followed closely by Morgan. They were clearly in the middle of a conversation and continued their bickering all the way down the stairs and into the conference room.

"Grimes, I don't want to hear it. When I give you a time to leave, you be ready. It shouldn't take you that long to do your hair!" Casey looked at Morgan's hair and scowled. "What kind of crap to you put in it anyway?"

Morgan was hurt and offended. "Well," he huffed, "if you must know, its L'Oréal Paris. Because I'm worth it."

Casey growled and rolled his eyes in disgust. "If you were a real man, you'd wash your hair with soap like I do."

Jen's eyes grew huge and she looked like she was about to go thermonuclear with laughter. Sarah, who had a much stronger immunity to Casey and Morgan's rather disturbing 'domestic partnership,' noticed her friend was clearly in trouble.

"Jen," Sarah said, working to keep the laughter from her own voice, "I need to speak with you. Privately. Now." She turned to the guys, dipped her head and said primly, "Excuse us."

She grabbed Jen by the arm and quickly hauled her out of the room.

"Where the hell are those two going?" Casey asked, rounding on Chuck.

Chuck's lips were pressed tightly together and his eyes flashed with amusement. He cleared his throat and said, "Uh, I don't know."

Casey frowned and looked a little confused.

"Female stuff?" Chuck ventured. "You know how women are," he said evasively.

Casey's frown deepened. "It must be funny female stuff because I can hear them laughing from all the way down the hall," Casey grumbled.

"Oh, hey guys! Jen brought donuts and coffee," Chuck said enthusiastically in an attempt to divert their attention.

His diversion worked. Chuck, Casey and Morgan each grabbed a donut and ate with gusto while they waited for Jen and Sarah's return. Casey brushed away the host of brightly colored sprinkles that fell on his shirt. The amount of powdered sugar that covered Morgan's beard made him look a little like Santa Claus.

It was several minutes before Sarah and Jen returned to the conference room. Jen's mascara was slightly smeared under one eye. She swiped a tear away with a finger, removing most of the smudge.

Casey glanced up at the two of them as they approached the table and snarked, "Well, if you two hens are done with your cackling, let's get this meeting started." With that, he reached for another donut.

"Casey, don't you think you've had enough?" Morgan said, gently slapping Casey's hand. "That's your third," he nagged.

"Back off, Grimes," Casey warned.

"Fine, but don't complain to me when you've put on five pounds," Morgan sulked.

Trying desperately not to laugh, Jen bit her lips tightly together and hummed through her nose. She sounded like the singer who gives the long starting note for an a cappella group, only her note was wobbly with threatening laughter. She nearly convulsed when she tried to stop it. Somehow she managed to turn it into a cough. When the cough subsided, she ran a finger under her watering eyes to wipe away the escaping tears. "Allergies," she finally croaked.

Sarah knew better than to look at Jen, so she sat down and very deliberately stared at the box of donuts at the center of the table. Every ounce of spy training was used to suppress the giggles that threatened to erupt.

Jen also sat down, folded hands and rested them in front of her on the table. She stared at them and willed herself to regain control.

Chuck realized he had better get the meeting started before the whole thing fell apart. He cleared his throat and he started right in. "So, Jen, how did it go yesterday? It looks like you did some shopping."

Thankfully the fit of giggles had subsided and she was able to respond in a normal voice. "Yes, I did quite a bit of shopping yesterday. I started at the Buy More and bought as much as I could from the list you sent me, Chuck. We were able to get pretty much everything except the stuff here now," turning toward the bags and boxes lined up against the wall. "Casey was nice enough to carry the computer stands down here for me and also volunteered to put them together today." She gave him a genuine smile of thanks and he acknowledged it with a slight head nod. "The Buy More stuff will be delivered here tonight."

"How will that work? The stuff isn't going on a truck, is it?" Sarah asked.

"No, I told the Buy More delivery people that the owners are serious about their need for anonymity and if anyone finds out where the stuff will be delivered, their identities might be accidentally revealed. They think arrangements have been made by the owners to have their own delivery guys come by after work tonight and pick everything up at the loading dock. None of the staff volunteered to stay late for our phantom delivery guys," she smirked at the eye rolling going on around the table, "so I told everyone you three guys would do it. It's a perfect solution, don't you think?"

She was met with a chorus of agreements.

"I'm curious. How did your 'positive reinforcement' campaign go?" Chuck asked.

"Well, the staff was very solicitous toward me, obviously," she related. "So I gave out a few rewards here and there, mostly to those who actually work hard and appreciate a little acknowledgement. Overall, they really are a wonderful group of people," she said fondly. Her eyes danced and she said, "But the fun really started when they figured out how to get the pellet. Fernando spent quite a bit of time with an older woman who was trying to buy the right camera for her grandson's birthday. He was very patient with her and I could tell she really appreciated his help. After she left, I went over to Fernando and spoke quietly with him for quite awhile. I told him how impressed I was with his kindness toward the customer and how I wished all the employees could treat the customers that way. I gave him a $200 gift card to Game Stop."

Morgan's eyes grew wide. "Um, Jen? Where is this money coming from?"

"It's is all coming from 'the employee training and development' budget. And yes, there is a budget item for that. It's just never been used."

There was more nodding and eye rolling.

"Anyway, I could tell every eye was on us as we talked. After bestowing upon Fernando the Buy More equivalent to the Nobel Peace Prize, I hid in the DVD section to see what happened." She laughed and said, "They descended on him like a swarm of locusts, asking him all kinds of questions and trying to figure out why he had been given the greatest prize of all. They figured it out because pretty quickly because after a short time I saw smiling customers. It may not last long, but it seems to be working right now," she finished with a shrug.

"Lester?" Chuck asked.

Jen shook her head. "He wasn't very happy when he realized the Nerd Herd wasn't going to get to do the install on all the equipment. He gave me the stink eye and muttered something about my mother being a hamster and my father smelling of elderberries." She shook herself and said, "Don't worry about it. I'll figure something out with him."

"I kidnapped him and brainwashed him once," Casey said with a self-satisfied smirk. "He was the head insurgent. I hate insurgents."

Four heads snapped up and turned toward Casey. "What?" he asked innocently.

"What? When?" Chuck asked incredulously.

Casey narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "Doesn't matter," he replied, his smirk still in place.

"Did it work?" Jen asked with a serious tone.

"Damn straight it worked," he replied.

"Interesting," she responded, the gears clearly turning in her brain.

Morgan's eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped. He smiled and said, "Thanks, John."

He nodded and said, "Your welcome, Morgan."

Although Chuck didn't know what all that was about, he was pretty sure that he was indeed blessed by his ignorance. He decided to ignore and continue. "So, to sum up, Morgan, Casey and I have to move all the stuff down to Castle tonight. Is that right, Jen?"

"Affirmative," she said officiously.

"So, Bartowski, how did your trip to the cabin go?" Casey asked, sipping his coffee.

He shot a quick look over to Sarah who was judiciously biting her lip and once again staring at the pink donut box on the table. "It went well," he replied as he tried to keep the silly grin from becoming too obvious. He was unsuccessful, however, and was met with a chorus of groans and some serious eye rolling.

"Anyway," Chuck felt it was time to just blast on through, "the CIA or the army or whomever cleaned the place out of all of my dad's books and papers. They took all the software, too. They only left the furniture and the paintings and tchotchkes on the walls. We did, however, find a floor safe and inside were these." Out of his Nerd Herd messenger bag, he pulled out the schematics and dropped them dramatically on the table.

"What are those, Chuck?" Morgan asked with excitement. Chuck took the top schematic, opened it up and placed it on the table. Morgan looked down and it and his eyes rolled and fluttered. A few seconds passed before he opened his eyes and shook his head.

"I can't believe I'm going to say this," Sarah said in disbelief. "Morgan, did you just flash?"

He nodded with his eyes wide in his own state of disbelief. "That's the motherboard schematic for Orion's laptop computer."

Chuck gave him a slap on the back. "Nice work, buddy. You are absolutely right."

"So the 'I have to sneeze' look is the Intersect giving Morgan information about what he just looked at?" Jen questioned.

Morgan was the one to reply. "Yeah. It's called a flash."

"Okay then," came the simply reply.

To everyone Chuck announced proudly, "I can build my dad's laptop. We can use it to remove the Intersect from Morgan."

"Um, I'm sorry," Jen started tentatively, "but are you going to whack him on the head with it? I'm no expert, but my husband is a software engineer. Your newly built laptop won't do anything until it has code to run on it. Did you find any software at the cabin?"

Sarah shook her head, "No, and we looked everywhere." She flushed pink again. Jen snorted, mumbling with amusement something about rabbits. Sarah winked at her and continued, "But we did find a key. Show them the key, Chuck."

Chuck pulled the key ring from his pocket and held it up. "We have no idea what it goes to, although we don't think it has anything to do with the software. We have plan for that, don't we, sweetie?"

Sarah nodded slowly and began, "We need to get the hard drive from the laptop the CIA took when they cleaned out Castle. It has everything we need on it. Get the hard drive, slip it into the laptop Chuck builds and we're good to go."

Morgan, Casey and Jen all started talking over each other when Sarah finished speaking.

Chuck put his hands up like a traffic cop. "One question at a time, people."

Casey was the first to speak up. "How do we sneak into the CIA?"

"No one said anything about sneaking in," Sarah countered.

"What, they're going to invite us?" Morgan asked.

"No, we send someone in with a legitimate reason to be there," Chuck replied.

They looked around at each other. Then all eyes fell on Jen. "Of course it's me. The one person on the team who's not a 'field agent,'" she said with a mixture of derision and amusement.

"It has to be you. The CIA knows all the rest of us," Sarah said quietly.

Jen sighed. "I know. I get it. But what business does a librarian have in going into the CIA?"

"Well, that part we haven't quite figured out yet," Chuck admitted.

"Hold the phone, Chuck! I thought you said you have a plan!" Jen exclaimed.

"Well, it's more of an outline, really. The rest needs to be fleshed out."

"Uh-huh."

"We need to find someone who can get us a pass into the CIA," Sarah added.

Morgan spoke up. "What about Beckman?"

Casey shook his head. "No, they'll be watching her to see if we try to contact her. It has to be someone that has no connection to us."

Sarah nodded her agreement. "Beckman might be able to help with other things down the road, but not something we are trying to do that directly involves us with the CIA."

Jen's blue eyes flashed with inspiration. "I think know someone who can help us."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Next time on _Return of the Ninja Librarian_:

"Well, you told me I needed to make a label for _everything_ in the closet," she giggled as she explained herself.


	7. Chapter 7 Friends and Relatives

**A/N**: Our story so far: Chuck Bartowski is a sea captain with seven children who burst into song at any time for no readily apparent reason. Sarah Walker, a novitiate preparing to become a nun, is brought in to be the governess for these seven children. Will she fall for the handsome sea captain even though… Hm? What's that? That's not this story? Oh, well then. Carry on.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Chuck or any of the other TV shows I so brazenly rip off in my stories.

**Chapter 7 – Friends and Relatives**

Jen had once told Sarah that librarians had to be quick thinking and adaptable in any situation. When she was a librarian working at a public library reference desk, she would be faced with an infinite number of questions and challenges. She would be helping a middle school student find the appropriate resources for a report on American westward expansion one minute and fixing a paper jam in the copy machine the next. Jen said that was one of the things that made it so fun, never knowing what her time at the desk would bring. She loved it when someone came in with a really obscure information need that they had not been able to fulfill. Nothing gave her a bigger thrill than hunting down and finding that nugget of information that had been elusive to all others. Jen's husband, Mark, teased that she was obsessive. Jen countered that she was simply tenacious.

Sarah had seen firsthand Jen's ability to adapt. Jen had seemed to become an agent overnight when she went into that auction with Vivian Volkoff. She had smoothly worked with Vivian throughout the auction and then when her life was in danger, Jen not only shot Vivian but rendered a man much larger than her defenseless. More recently, Jen had gone both successfully and hilariously "undercover" at the Buy More. Now it looked like she would need to adapt again and get into a CIA storage facility. She knew she should be worried for her friend, but strangely wasn't. Jen would adjust in whatever situation she was in. And now Jen's tenacity had been unloosed.

The five of them sat around the conference table in Castle, discussing ways to get to Orion's laptop to swap out the hard drive. When Sarah mentioned that they needed to get into the CIA without any connection to anyone they had worked with in the past, Jen had an inspiration. She picked up her phone, scrolled through the contact numbers and placed a call.

Chuck, Sarah, Morgan and Casey shot each other questioning looks, but stayed silent. They didn't need to question Jen since she wasn't going to be pulled from her current course of action short of them pouncing on her, hog tying her and prying the phone from her hand.

Clearly waiting for the person at the other end to answer their phone, Jen stared up at the ceiling, swiveling the leather executive chair she sat in slightly back and forth. She sat up straighter and smiled into the phone, "Jethro! It's your cousin, Jen." She listened for a moment and then responded, "It's good to talk to you, too. How's it going?"

As she listened, her eyebrows shot up and an impressed look came over her face. "Wow! I read about that, but I didn't know you and your team were the ones who took that psycho down. Good for you! Hey, how's your dad?"

More listening and smiles. "I'm glad to hear it. Say, Jethro, I'm sure you know that this isn't just a social call, although, don't get me wrong, I love catching up with you." She listened and then snickered, "Yeah, Mr. Chatterbox. Listen, I hope you can help me. I need to get the location of a laptop that was recently taken by the CIA from a facility here in the LA area. The program was shut down and everything was taken away. The laptop doesn't actually belong to the CIA and I'm helping some friends track it down." She looked over at her friends and gave them a wink.

"I know. We probably won't be able to take it back, but, ah, we have another idea in mind."

She listened and then asked, "Is he there now? Can I talk to him for a minute? Thanks."

She pulled her phone away from her mouth and whispered, "He's going to have me talk to someone on his team who is good with this kind…" Cut off before she could finish, she said, "Hello, Special Agent McGee. I'm Jeth… Special Agent Gibbs' cousin and I'd like to locate something the CIA has in its possession." She listened and then responded, "Yeah, a program that has been shut down. It's a laptop that's probably in storage. Could you help me locate it?"

She smiled and said excitedly, "Great! Thanks, Special Agent." She paused and replied, "Okay, McGee."

More listening. Her brows furrowed and answered with an unsure look, "It was removed from the facility here within the last month."

Heads nodded around the table letting Jen know she was correct. "Keywords for the search would probably be 'Orion', 'Bartowski'…yeah, just like it sounds, with an 'i' and 'Buy More'. Mm-hmm, like the store."

"Just don't say 'Intersect'," Chuck hissed.

Jen rolled her eyes at him and whispered, "Duh."

Chuck smiled sheepishly and Sarah playfully slapped his arm.

She whispered, "He searching for it." The room was silent. Jen's chair resumed swiveling.

After another minute, she exclaimed, "You found it! Great, McGee!" She listened and then replied, "I figured as much. What's near it? On the shelf I mean." She frantically mimed that she needed something to write on, so Sarah jumped up and ran over to the bags of office supplies by the wall. Rummaging through them, she quickly found a pen and a note pad for Jen to use. Sarah handed them to her who immediately started writing.

"Uh-huh." Writing. "Uh-huh." Pause. "Anything else?" Writing. "Interesting." Listening. Writing. "How restricted is the area?" More writing. "Uh-huh."

By now, the other four members of the team were about to come out of their seat as the tension was palpable. Morgan bit a fingernail, Casey cracked his knuckles about six times, Sarah nervously swung her foot under the table and Chuck held tightly to Sarah's hand.

"Great! Thank you so much, McGee. I really appreciate your help." Smiling, she replied to the question at the other end of the phone, "Yes, please. Thanks again, McGee."

Whispering, she glanced over at those sitting around the table and said, "I'm going to talk to Jeth…" Back into her phone she said, "Hey, Jethro. He's a great kid." She paused and then let out a belly laugh, "Elf Lord? What the hell does that even mean?" Another pause and then more laughing. "Nerd."

Morgan and Chuck glanced at each other, their eyes wide with recognition. Sarah caught the look between them and her eyes narrowed.

"Say," Jen continued, "I have one more favor to ask. Do you know of anyone who can help me get access to the CIA storage area where this laptop is located? McGee said I could get access to it with a special pass issued by someone from within the Agency." She listened and then a grimace formed on her face. "His eye? Gross. Anyone else that could help?" Her face turned hopeful as she listened. She wrote something down on her note pad. "I don't want bother you anymore today. Can you give me her number so I can call her later? Would that be okay?" She jotted it down. She listened and then replied, "I think I'll have a nice story figured out by the time I call her. She won't hear the word 'laptop'." She paused and then laughed out loud, "I remember, Jethro. Rule number 7*. Thanks again. I'll talk to you again as soon as I figure out if and when I'll be coming to DC. Let's get together and have some steak and beer." She smiled at his response. "Bye." With that, she ended the call.

She turned to their expectant faces and with an evil smile said, "What?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Okay, so here's the deal," Jen started excitedly. "Oh, and by the way, that was my cousin who's a special agent with Naval Criminal Investigative Service."

It was Chuck's turn to roll his eyes at her. "We figured that out."

"Fine. If you're going to be that way about it…"

Groans were heard all around the table.

"Okay, okay." Her eyes gleamed as she said, "The laptop is located in a storage facility in a basement on the main Langley campus. One of Jethro's team members said that according to the database he was looking at, it's just sitting on a shelf. He said it is marked as 'non operational.' Apparently, it's in a secure area, but not so secure that I can't get access to it if I have an agent approved pass. Another of his team members is dating a CIA agent and he thinks she might be able to get Agent Boyfriend to help us."

"That's great," Sarah said, "but how do you get a pass without telling them you're there for the laptop?"

"McGee gave me a list of the other equipment and artifacts being stored near the laptop. He said it is all stuff left over from past programs and missions. I'll do some research on this stuff and find one I say have to look at for some reason. I'll give Jethro's agent a story about wanting to see this object, even though I'm there to get to the laptop. As long as the other thing is close, it doesn't matter what it is."

"But even if you get close to it, you can't take it out," Morgan stated. "Won't they search you before and after you go into the storage area?"

Casey scowled at Morgan and grumbled, "Weren't you listening, moron? She won't have to. She takes hard drive in with her, swaps it with the hard drive in Orion's laptop and walks out with it. The laptop stays and no one will ever know."

"Ding, ding, ding, ding," Jen exclaimed as he put one index finger on her nose and pointed the other index finger at Casey. "Give the man a cigar."

The plan was met with approving nods from the rest of the team.

"Who is this person you're supposed to talk to?" Chuck asked.

"She's on Jethro's team. Hang on. Her name is," she searched her note pad for the name. She put her finger on the pad and replied, "Ziva David," pronouncing the name "Zee-vah Dah-veed."

"So it looks like you'll need to go to DC and Langley," Morgan said.

Jen nodded and said, "Pretty soon. I have to do some research and come up with a believable story to give to Special Agent David. I'm not sure how long it will take after that to get the pass from Agent Boyfriend, so it could be at least a week, maybe longer."

A frown formed on Sarah's face and asked Jen, "How can you go to Washington at all? What about your daughter and husband? They need you."

"Tomorrow is Sarah's last day of school," she replied. "She'll be home for about a week before she flies up north to stay with her grandparents for a couple of weeks. Mark is a big boy and can take care of himself. And I'm sure the dogs will protect him," she snickered.

"Yeah, Buster could beat anyone to death with that vicious wagging Lab tail of his," Chuck laughed, remembering the time he and Sarah had met Jen's two dogs. Buster was a joyous, enthusiastic Labrador retriever who had never met another breathing thing he didn't immediately love and become his best friend. They also had Scooter, the rescue mix who was much more cautious about life and did not squander his affections.

"Or maybe knock you down and lick you to death," Jen smiled, the love for her dogs clearly showing on her face. "Anyway, if I can get my research done and you all can get Castle up to speed soon, maybe we can go to Washington in a week or so," she shrugged, saying it more as a question than as a statement.

"Well, with the Gulfstream we can go whenever we want, once I take official possession of it that is," Sarah replied. "I just have to file the flight plan."

"Okay, so we'll see how it goes the next few days and then go when everything is in place," Chuck summed up.

"I've got to go upstairs and make sure everything is set for my 'benefactors' delivery tonight," Jen said as she stood up and picked up her note pad. Glancing down at it and then at Sarah, she gave her a knowing look and said, "Don't you and Chuck have some office supplies to put away?"

Sarah's eyes danced with mirth as she looked from Jen to Chuck. "She's right, you know. We do need to get that done."

"Ugh," Casey grunted. "I'm going upstairs with Jen," leaping to his feet like his chair was suddenly burning a hole in his pants.

"Um, yeah, me, too," Morgan murmured, not wanting to be around for the next couple of hours. "Manager of the Buy More and all," he babbled nervously, already racing for the stairs.

Six feet pounded up the stairs and the door to Castle slammed shut. Chuck and Sarah once again found themselves alone.

"Was it something I said?" Sarah asked in feigned shock.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It took much longer to put the office supplies up on the shelves than it should have, but their way was much more fun. Eventually the Office Galaxy bags were empty and Chuck and Sarah walked out of the supply closet hand in hand.

"Um, Chuck?" Sarah smirked, pointing to his forehead.

"Oh, yeah," he smiled sheepishly as he reached up, peeled off a label that read SEXY NERD and playfully stuck it to Sarah's nose.

"Well, you told me I needed to make a label for _everything_ in the closet," she giggled as she explained herself.

She took the label off her nose and stuck it to Chuck shirt. They giggled like teenagers as they continued to play the "peel and stick" game until they reached the top of Castle's stairs. Chuck won the game when he slipped his hand under the hem of her blouse and stuck the label to her abdomen which quivered under his touch. He pulled his hand away, put his arm around her waist and pressed her body hard against his. He gazed into her eyes and whispered in a husky voice, "Leave it."

Her breath hitched and she nodded, her eyes locked on his. He gave her a long, tender kiss and then they walked through the opened door together.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Morgan and Casey spent the afternoon gathering and staging on the loading dock all of the things purchased for Castle. When Chuck and Sarah walked out onto the loading dock, they found Casey setting down a large box containing a desktop computer. Jen sat atop another large box, holding a clipboard in her lap which held the pages of their purchase order. She scanned a page and not finding what she was looking for, flipped to the next. When she found what she was looking for, she put a checkmark on the page.

"Hope you saved some strength, Bartowski. We need you to come help us get all this stuff together or we'll be here all night," Casey barked.

Chuck jumped and asked, "What should I go get?"

Jen glanced down to the list on her lap and called, "Go get four of these laptops," pointing to the list. He looked at it and replied, "Got it." He looked at the list and asked, "How come only four? You should have bought five."

Jen shrugged. "I already have a laptop. You don't need to get me another one."

Chuck smiled and responded, "I appreciate the sentiment, but, number one, it will be your work laptop. Number two, it will be easier for everyone if we all have the same kind of laptops with the same software. Number three, no offense, Jen, but I've worked on your computer. It's a piece of crap."

Sarah shot Chuck a disapproving glare and exclaimed, "Chuck! That's not nice."

"No, Sarah, it's okay," Jen said, jumping to Chuck's defense. "Chuck's right. It is a piece of crap. We just couldn't afford to get me a new one since we had to buy a new one for my daughter for school recently. It was more important for her to have a good one so she could get her schoolwork done, so I've been getting along with my old junky one. But if you twist my arm, I'll take a new one," she finished with a twinkle in her eye.

Chuck grinned and said, "Okay, I'll grab five. Put the last one on our tab."

"Roger that," Jen said, jotting a note.

Chuck walked back into the store as Sarah glanced down at her watch. "Jen, don't you have to go get your daughter at school?"

"Crap, what time is it?" Seeing that she did indeed need to go, she jumped off the box and asked hastily, "Sarah, can you help the guys with this? Just check off the stuff they bring out on this printout." She tossed the clipboard to Sarah who caught it out of the air. With that she grabbed her stuff and ran toward her car. "Talk to you later," she shouted over her shoulder. "Oh, and Sarah, I'll do that thing for you tonight," she added, running backward.

Sarah waved and called back, "Thanks!"

Chuck came out onto the loading dock carrying three boxed laptops as Sarah picked up the clipboard and took Jen's place on the top of the box.

"What's Jen going to do for you tonight?" Chuck asked, never one to be left out of a loop.

"Oh, it's no big deal," Sarah replied, lightly. "She's going to do a little research for me."

"Yeah? Research on what?"

"Need to know, Chuck."

"I don't need to know?" he pouted.

"Not yet. In due time," was all she said.

Still pouting, Chuck went back into the store and came out a minute later with the other two laptops. He put his boxes down and immediately went back into the store still a little miffed that Sarah wouldn't let him in on her secret. He nearly ran over Skip and Fernando coming through the door, both carrying large boxes. They put them down near where Chuck had put the laptops. They stood stalk still when they saw Sarah sitting where Jen had been. They were clearly surprised to see Sarah there rather than Jen.

Sarah was surprised to see them helping and asked, "So you two are helping? Thanks, that's great." She flashed them a smile. They looked back at her like they had just been neuralized. The three of them stared at each other mutely until Sarah understood what was going on. "Are you working for Ms. Hatch?"

They both nodded silently, eyes wide and huge behind thick glasses.

"Did she give you a reward for helping?"

They nodded again, their eyes not blinking nor leaving her face. Simultaneously, they pulled the telltale rectangular pieces of papers from their back pockets and held them out for Sarah's inspection. They were proud that their hands only trembled slightly.

"Special screening passes for _Cowboys & Aliens_," Fernando said bravely to Her. "We get to see it with the technical crew who worked on the movie before it's released. The movie is in Westwood." His voice was a bit tremulous, but it was from the excitement of it all. He had never felt so alive. He was somehow still talking to Her and yet also strangely aware of his teeth. "She said her husband has a friend in the movie business." His eyes shone brightly behind the smudged glasses. It was exhilarating for him to know someone who was married to someone who knew someone in the movie business. And they got special passes to a movie, that movie being _Cowboys & Aliens._ And he was talking to Her and not throwing up while doing so. It was like a dream come true.

Skip, gaining courage from Fernando's ability to speak to Her without spontaneously combusting and, miraculously, Her actually listening to him, ventured to speak as well. "Ms. Hatch," he tested his voice and found that he, too could speak and not throw up, "told us she gave us extra special rewards because we volunteered to help." Sarah heard the pride in his voice, but he spoke barely above a whisper, so she leaned forward a bit to better hear him. Her movement spooked him and he nearly bolted. She moved more slowly and spoke quietly when she said to them, "Well, I'm very proud of you both. Thank you so much for volunteering to help." Her smile was once again met by neuralized stares.

"By the way, guys, can you tell me what you brought out so I can check it off the list?" No response. She tapped her pen against the clipboard and said with a louder voice, "The list?"

Fernando once again found his voice and said, "27 inch widescreen flat-panel cinema monitor." He could take no more, for he turned and hightailed it back into the store.

Now left by himself on the loading dock with only Her, Skip's words tumbled out of his mouth, "Xbox 360 Limited Edition _Gears of War 3_ bundle." He too, then scampered away into the safety of the Buy More.

News of Fernando and Skip's successful interaction with Her on the loading dock caused a near riot amongst the rest of the male employees, and actually, a couple of the female employees as well. Suddenly, they all wanted to help bring products from Her purchase order list so they could speak to Her and not be perceived as stalkers.

It didn't take long for Chuck to figure out what motivated the employees to work as they did. He simply stood on the loading dock, leaned his shoulder against the wall and watched. He assumed Sarah knew exactly what was going on, but if she did she didn't let on. She occasionally looked over to him and winked. He grinned back.

Twice the amount of work got done in half the amount of time. The employees audibly groaned when Morgan reminded them that they would not be able to stay through the evening and help. Their disappointment turned to relief when they realized that Her would not be there in the evening as she was going home. After Sarah left, greenshirts and Nerds scattered to the four winds. The Buy More became a ghost town, save Chuck, Morgan and Casey.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

About ten minutes after closing time a large rental moving truck rumbled toward the Buy More loading dock. The driver maneuvered the truck around and then backed it into the loading bay, backup horn beeping. Chuck, Casey and Morgan looked at each other in confusion. None of them knew what was going on.

The door on the passenger side of the truck cab opened and Jen jumped down and lightly landed on the ground. The driver side door opened and out jumped her husband, Mark. They both slammed the doors shut and leapt up onto the loading dock.

"Jen, what the hell are you doing?" Casey asked, shocked by her and the truck. He remembered his manners and offered a handshake to Mark. "Hey, Mark. Good to see you again." Mark has previously met Casey and Morgan at Chuck and Sarah's wedding.

Mark shook Casey's hand and then proceeded to shake Chuck's and Morgan's hands as well, greeting each of them.

"It's nice to see you guys again, too," Mark said. "I know you're surprised to see me, so I'll let Jen explain why we are here." He turned to his wife and all eyes were on her as they waited for her to begin speaking.

"I overheard Lester talking to Jeff today. Something about things being 'hinky' and wanting to see what was happening tonight. I also heard them talk about someone named Loretta. I don't know who she is, but I decided they were up to something and that we'd better really sell this whole moving guys thing."

"So you rented a moving truck at this time of night?" Chuck asked.

She shook her head. "No, as soon as I overheard them, I called and reserved a truck. I got it from the rental place after I picked our daughter up from school." She waited a beat and added, "I didn't think she would appreciate me driving up in front of the school in this thing."

Mark nodded and said, "That would have been pretty funny." He smiled at his wife and added, "She recruited me to be a 'delivery guy.'"

Chuck and Casey looked at each other and nodded. They figured Jen had told him some, if not all, of what was going on with them. They didn't have to worry about having important national security secrets be revealed anymore since they no longer worked for the government, so Mark's presence didn't concern them at all. If anything, they could use the help.

"So Lester mentioned Loretta?" Chuck asked as he and Casey surreptitiously scanned the area. Casey grunted and cocked his head in the direction of Loretta, Jeff and Lester's stalker van.

"Yes, I'm sure the name was Loretta," Jen insisted. "Who is she?"

Chuck saw the van and let out a sigh. "Loretta is their surveillance van. They're watching us from over there," pointing with his head.

Anger flashed in her eyes, like lightning in the desert sky. "Insubordinates. I hate insubordinates," she spat. She rounded on the four guys and said, "If we swing the back doors of the truck all the way open that should block their view. You guys get some carts and start hauling the stuff downstairs. I'll take care of these two clowns."

Like a cat, she jumped off the loading dock and stalked directly toward Jeff, Lester and Loretta. "I hate clowns, too," she muttered under her breath. Behind her, she heard Casey bark, "You heard the lady. Grab a cart and start moving this stuff!"

Chuck whispered to Mark, "Should we stop her? Will she be okay? "

Mark gave Chuck a look like he just asked him to wrestle a grizzly bear with his arms tied behind his back. Mark's eyes showed a hint of fear. "I'm not stopping her," he replied with conviction. "I feel sorry for the guys in the van," added ruefully. The both turned and followed Casey and Morgan into the store to get some carts.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In what seemed like just a few angry strides, Jen was literally up in Loretta's grill. If she had a gun, she would have put a couple of rounds right into Loretta's radiator. She looked through the windshield and saw a look of shock and fear on Lester's face.

She moved to the driver's side of the car, grabbed the door handle and yanked open the door. She shouted, "What the hell are you two doing here? Were you going to follow me so you can find out who owns the Buy More? Because if that's what you were going to do, you have made a grievous error in judgment," she warned in a terrible, seething voice.

"We just want to know what's going on," Lester replied, his voice unsteady. "We are just looking out for our fellow employees, isn't that right, Jeffrey?" He glanced toward Jeff reposed in the passenger seat.

Jeff's eyes were closed and his head leaned back against the headrest. His mouth hung open, the breath coming from it slightly gurgly but regular. A can of Pabst Blue Ribbon tipped nearly sideways in his slack hand and several empty cans littered the floorboard around his feet.

Jen shot Lester a look of irritation.

"Well, you maybe can't tell right now, but Jeffrey also cares deeply for our fellow employees," Lester burbled.

"This is your last warning, Lester," Jen was beyond irate and worked to keep her voice steady. "If you really cared for your fellow employees, you will let me do my job. If you check with them, you'll see that they are pretty happy." Her blue eyes shot daggers at him, her face as mask of unmitigated fury. In a voice like death, she said, "And if I hear you are still trying to find out who the owners are," her voice dropped so that it was barely above a whisper, "I will end you."

Lester visibly paled and gulped loudly. "Are you going to kill me?" he squeaked.

"No," she answered quietly, "you'll just wish you were dead."

Lester heard enough. He turned the engine on and mashed the accelerator to the floor. He was going for a dramatic and spectacular exit. Instead, Loretta sputtered and coughed, like Val Kilmer in _Tombstone_. Loretta finally began to move, slowly pulling away from Jen at an impressive six miles an hour. By the time he got to the end of the block, the van had managed to get up to 15 miles per hour.

Jen turned on her heel and strode back to the loading dock. Part of her wanted Lester to push just one more time. She would teach him a lesson he would never forget.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

*Gibbs' Rule Number 7: Always be specific when you lie.

Next time on _Return of the Ninja Librarian_:

She couldn't stop the grin from overtaking her face. It was a gorgeous day and the plane handled like a dream. Up here in the air, she could forget about bad guys and evil-doers and just soar over the city.


	8. Chapter 8 Come Fly with Me

**A/N**: A huge thank you must first and foremost be given to **Doc in Oz** for his invaluable assistance in the pilot, airplane and flying elements of this chapter. If not for him, anyone with any piloting experience reading this would have rolled their eyes and thought, "Yeah, she has no idea what she's talking about." It was also fun to learn about everything pilots do to get their licenses. You should be impressed, people. I am.

I recently joined Twitter. Stop by **quistie64**.

I don't own Chuck, etc.

**Chapter 8 – Come Fly with Me**

Sarah sat at their dining room table, sipping her coffee and thinking. She found herself home by herself this morning, which was a little disconcerting. It was the first time in quite awhile that she found herself completely alone. There had been those couple of hours on the beach during her and Chuck's honeymoon in Maui where she had been laying out on the beach and Chuck had gone boogie boarding. Even then she hadn't been by herself that much with the fairly constant stream of college aged interlopers trying to talk to her. When Chuck found out that she was being hit on whenever he wasn't around, they decided it would be best if they spent all their time together. So that's what they did. Now that she really thought about it, since returning from their honeymoon, she and Chuck hadn't been apart other than when she went for coffee with Jen and last night when Chuck, Casey and Morgan worked late into the evening moving the stuff they purchased from the Buy More downstairs into Castle.

Five years ago, she was almost always alone. She lived by herself in a cold, nondescript apartment in Washington, DC. She was the best CIA agent the Agency had and lived for her job. Other than Bryce, she had formed no serious emotional attachments to anyone. No, scratch that. Looking back at it now and knowing what emotional attachment really meant, she wasn't really attached to Bryce then either. She had few friends and no family. She lived mission to mission and thought it was enough.

Now she was married. She looked down at the simple gold band that accompanied the engagement ring on the ring finger of her left hand. _Chuck and I are actually married. _She had a wonderful family and friends. She was hardly ever alone and when she was, she was never lonely. The fact that the CIA had fired her wasn't a big deal. _Boy, things sure have changed_, she thought.

She sipped her coffee and smiled a little when she thought about last night. She had waited up for Chuck and was watching TV when he came home. As soon as he walked in the door, she could immediately tell he was completely and utterly exhausted. Like a zombie, he dragged himself down the hall and straight to their bedroom. Following him, she watched him flop spread eagle, face down on the bed. She heard him mumble something about rental trucks, Loretta and an angry, vengeful ninja librarian. In his near delirium, he muttered, "You do NOT want to piss her off!" It took some time, but she was able to get him undressed and into bed. He was asleep before she turned off the lights.

He was up and out the door early the next morning despite the late night the night before. He wanted to put some time installing the equipment in Castle before he had to work his shift at the Buy More. He was coherent this morning and relayed to her all that had transpired the night before. She giggled at the thought of her 5 foot 2 inch friend jumping down from a large rental truck and was glad to hear Mark was there to help out. Her eyes widened when she heard about Jen's confrontation with Lester. Chuck had relayed that once Lester and Jeff were gone, the rest of the evening was uneventful. Apparently, Jen had stayed until the end, keeping watch and pacing like a Doberman Pinscher on high alert.

Sarah would check in with Jen later since she knew that Jen would be busy today researching the objects stored near Orion's laptop at the CIA storage facility. Research was one of Jen's favorite things to do. _That and scaring the living crap out of Lester_, she smiled to herself.

Since she was going to be on her own today, she decided it was the perfect day to go to the airport and take possession of the Gulfstream. It had been delivered to the Van Nuys Airport two days before, but she had been so busy with other things she hadn't been there to see it yet. Although Burbank airport was closer, Van Nuys was one of the busiest general aviation airports in the world. Private planes of all shapes and sizes flew out of Van Nuys every day. No one would look at them twice as they came and went. Burbank, however, had become primarily a commercial airport and a private airplane could potentially garner unwanted scrutiny. Van Nuys Airport was clearly the better choice. She had made an 11 o'clock appointment with the agent from Gulfstream to go through the plane and finish any final paperwork.

She finished her coffee and placed the mug in the sink. She snagged her purse and as she closed the door to their apartment, she shook her head in wonder. _We own a Gulfstream_.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Traffic was light and it only took about 30 minutes to get to the airport from Echo Park. She found the correct hangar, parked the Lotus nearby and jumped out of the car. A jolt of anticipation shot through her as she strode toward the entrance to the hangar. She entered, taking off her sunglasses to allow her eyes to adjust to the slightly lower light. Her breath hitched in her throat when she saw it. Their brand new Gulfstream sat there majestically, waiting for her. She approached it reverently, her heart pounding with excitement. It was beautiful. Sure, a pre-owned plane would have been cheaper, but Sarah didn't buy used vehicles. Ever. An episode of one of her favorite TV shows informed her of the disgusting biological debris left behind by previous owners. She didn't even want to think about what kind of human detritus there might be on an airplane. The words "mile high club" made her shudder. She willed herself to push the disgusting thoughts from her mind and focus on the spectacular jet before her.

She gazed at the sleek Gulfstream G350. The twin Rolls-Royce Tay engines balanced on either side of the fuselage just in front of the tail. Those engines would get the plane up to 41,000 feet in just 20 minutes. With a range of 3,800 nautical miles, it would easily get them from LA to DC, nonstop. Cruising at Mach 0.8, they could cross the continent in about five and a half hours. Six oval windows lined each side of the plane and the door stood open with its stairs down, inviting her, enticing her, inside.

She was pulled from her ruminations when she heard approaching footsteps. She turned and saw a tall man about 40 years old with wavy brown hair striding her way. He wore a long sleeved khaki shirt with large buttoned pockets on the front and epaulets on the shoulders. His brown plaid and white tie seemed a little out of style. He smiled as he offered a handshake, "You must be Mrs. Bartowski. I'm Ted Striker. I'm the agent from Gulfstream and I'll be working with you today to get you ready to take possession of this beauty."

She returned his smile and shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Striker."

"Please, call me Ted."

"I'm Sarah."

"Great!" he said with a genuine smile. He glanced over her shoulder and asked, "So your husband isn't with you today?"

"No, is that going to be a problem?" Her brow furrowed. "I thought all of the paperwork to purchase the plane was complete."

"Yes, it is. I just thought he might want to be here when we go over everything."

"He's busy with another project today," she hedged. "And I'm the pilot in the family so he leaves all the flying stuff to me."

"Well, okay then. Let's get started," Ted said enthusiastically. "I'm not going to go over all the specs of the plane since I assume you went over all of it with the sales representative when you purchased it."

"Yes, we went over all that information extensively," Sarah acknowledged.

"Let's step into the cabin then, shall we?"

She followed him up the stairs and stepped into the cabin. It was breathtaking. The tan leather seats looked much like the executive chairs recently bought for Castle. The rich wood appointments throughout the cabin were polished to such a high shine she saw her reflection in them. She took in a deep breath, inhaling the scent which infused the plane. There was a sort of "new plane smell," much like new car smell only better. First, there was the aroma of leather, new carpet and electronics, like a new DVD player right out of the box. Added to that was the smell of fuel and hydraulics. The mixture was nearly intoxicating and caused a small smile to form on her face.

Ted walked a ways down the cabin, his head down just a little so as not to rub the top of his head against the ceiling. Sarah was able to move throughout the cabin without a change to her posture.

"How tall is your husband, Sarah?"

"He's six four. He's going to have to hunch over a little when he walks around in here, but we didn't want to spend an extra $30 million and buy a G650 so he could stand up straight," she chuckled.

Ted smiled and said, "A wise decision, I'm sure." He swept his hand to the side and intoned in a professional voice, "As you can see, the cabin has been configured to your specifications." He pointed toward the back of the plane and continued, "The galley and lav are aft. Then we have three distinct seating areas. Working aft to fore, the first area is a table and four chairs which is great for dining or working. The second area in the center of the cabin has two seats and a divan. The divan is great for napping, by the way. Finally the third area here has four seats." Each set of seats faced each other for ease of conversation. "Why don't you inspect the cabin to ensure everything is in order? I'll wait here and then we'll move into the cockpit after a little paperwork."

"Okay," Sarah said as she moved toward the back of the plane to check out the galley and lavatory. She let out a thankful sigh as well. Lately she seemed to have run across every horrible salesperson in LA. First was the guy from whom she bought her Lotus Evora. He was a convicted felon working under an assumed name. She had worked his hinky status to her advantage, however, and ended up getting a great deal on the car. Then there was Troy Cooper, creepy real estate agent she and Jen met at the Starbucks the other day. She was glad to finally interact with someone who was normal.

The galley had cold drawers, a microwave, a convection oven and two coffeemakers. She opened the lav door and stuck her head in and glanced around. In the floor of the lav there was a hatch that led to the baggage hold. "Handy," she mumbled, "but not making Chuck go down there any time soon." She remembered the last time he spent any time in the cargo hold of an airplane. _Shaw and his stupid plan of sending Chuck on a solo mission_, she seethed. _What a…_ she shook away the thoughts of the past when she realized they had crept into her brain. She took in a breath and drew her focus back to inspecting the plane.

She moved forward through the cabin toward the front of the plane. "Everything seems to be in order," she said.

"Fantastic!" Ted said enthusiastically. "Now, before we go into the cockpit I need to check your pilot's license to make sure you're rated to fly this plane." Indicating the seat across from his he offered, "Have a seat."

Sarah sat down, plopped her purse into her lap and fished out her wallet. She pulled her license out and handed it to Ted. He looked it over and said, "Well, you have the right grade and ratings to fly this plane. I see the name on your license is Sarah Walker. Maiden name?"

"Yes, my husband and I were just recently married," she replied.

"Oh, well, congratulations are in order! I know it's none of my business, but are you planning on legally taking your husband's name?"

"Well, I've thought about it and…"

He cut her off when he began to speak with a faraway look in his eyes, "I'm married. Her name is Elaine."

Sarah's eyes grew wide and she blinked a couple of times, not completely sure what was happening. She decided to just stay quiet and not make any sudden movements. Apparently her earlier thoughts about the normality of Ted Striker were sadly premature.

"I was a navy pilot during the war and a mission went pear-shaped." His face fell, "Because of my mistake, seven men didn't return from that raid and I ended up in the hospital."

"The hospital," Sarah said, concerned. "What was it?"

"It was a big building where they kept sick people, but that's not important right now," he answered.

Sarah's eyebrows shot up and she swallowed nervously. There was something strange about this guy.

"Elaine was there with me at the hospital. We were together, then apart, and then together, and then apart…" he babbled. He seemed to catch himself and poured a glass of water. Unfortunately, when he went to drink it, he somehow missed his mouth and sent the water splashing on his face and dribbling down onto his shirt. Seemingly unaware of his wet condition, he continued, "Anyway, the moral of the story is, don't eat the fish dinner on an airplane."

"Um, thank you for the tip," she replied, wondering if she should make a run for it. "I'll, ah, remember that."

"Right, so anyway," Ted said coming back to reality, "if you choose to change your name, you'll have to go to the FAA Flight Standards District Office in Los Angeles and bring a copy of your marriage certificate."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

"I have a few more forms to fill out before we go up, so why don't you take a look through the owner's manual while I finish up," he said, handing her the manual.

She sat quietly and read over the manual which detailed everything about the plane including the dimensions plan, panel layout, fuel flow diagram and electrical layout. It also detailed the pre-flight walk-around she knew they would perform before they took the plane up. She skimmed over the charts regarding oxygen, weight distribution and cruise performance. She would look more in depth at that information later before she had passengers on the plane.

"Let's go into the cockpit and go over everything there. Then I'll need you to take her up. Gulfstream corporate requires that when we sell to an owner/pilot, we are assured that the pilot can actually handle the plane."

They entered the cockpit and Striker climbed into the co-pilot seat. He motioned for Sarah to sit in the pilot seat. She maneuvered herself into the pilot seat and was glad she wore jeans and boots. Skirts were never a good thing to wear when climbing into a cockpit. She settled into her seat as he began explaining the new technology in the flight deck, "This G350 features an advanced integrated avionics system. All flight instruments, engine, navigation and communication are integrated using these four LCD screens. It's so advanced it's almost like flying in a video game."

She laughed and said, "Don't tell my husband that. He'll want to try to fly it himself." At the thought of Chuck, she suddenly missed him terribly and wished he was there with her.

Ted flipped the master and avionic switches and the cockpit lit up as screens and displays came to life. He spent the next 45 minutes explaining the systems to her and how they worked. By the time he finished his "tutorial" Sarah was excited and ready to get the plane up in the air.

Ted and Sarah stepped out of the plane and watched as it was towed out of the hangar and onto the tarmac. The plane gleamed in the sunlight. It was beautifully shiny.

They went through the preflight checklist together, ensuring that the plane was safe and ready to fly. They walked around the outside of the plane together, checking the tires and wheel wells to make sure there were no hydraulic leaks. They looked at the leading edges of the wings for damage. She checked the fuel for water contamination by draining a little fuel into a cup to see if any water settled at the bottom and ensured the fuel cap was secure after dipping the tanks. Satisfied that all was in order when the checklist was complete, they were soon both safely ensconced in their seats in the cockpit. A thrill shot through her as she put her headset on and slipped on her sunglasses. She looked forward to seeing what this plane could do.

She communicated with the tower and when given clearance, slowly taxied toward the runway. When they reached it, Sarah positioned the plane to move onto the runway as soon as they received approval from the tower. When she got the go ahead to take off, she throttled up the twin jet engines until they came to a high pitched whine. She released the brakes and the plane quickly rolled down the runway. In 30 seconds the plane reached takeoff speed. She gently pulled back on the control yoke, climbed in altitude and retracted the landing gear. The plane fairly leapt off the deck.

She couldn't stop the grin from overtaking her face. It was a gorgeous day and the plane handled like a dream. Up here in the air, she could forget about bad guys and evil-doers and just soar over the city.

"I'm going to need you to do some different maneuvers for me to make sure you can handle the plane in any situation," she heard Ted say into her headset.

"Roger," she replied. "Just tell me what you need me to do."

"Ted."

Sarah turned her head slightly and glanced at Ted. "Excuse me?"

"My name is Ted, not Roger." His eyes lost focus as he gazed out the window. "Roger Murdoch was the co-pilot on a commercial flight Elaine and I were on. She was one of the flight attendants and I was a passenger. We had to do an emergency landing."

_Uh oh_, Sarah thought. _Here we go again_. Not wanting to encourage him in his trip to Crazy Town, Sarah concentrated on flying the jet and enjoying the view. As long as he didn't do anything stupid, she knew she was okay. She could fly the plane with or without his input.

"The sky was angry that day my friend," he murmured to no one in particular. He stared silently out the window for another minute, mumbling to himself about some "jerk named Rex Kramer."

"'Striker,' he said, 'listen, and you listen close,' he said," Ted mimicked a voice under his breath. "'Flying a plane is no different than riding a bicycle, just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes,' he said. Like I didn't already know that!"

Her eyes grew wide, but knew to keep them staring straight out the jet's windshield.

Suddenly, he snapped back to reality and said to Sarah as if he never left said, "I need you to do a couple of circuits."

"Copy," she replied cautiously. Thankfully, that word didn't seem to trigger any crazy talk from Ted, so she flawlessly executed a couple of circuits or "touch-and-goes" where she put the wheels on the runway like she was going to land, let the plane roll while Sarah reconfigured for climb, and then quickly climbed in altitude and continued flying. When she had completed her circuits, he had her come out of a stall. She kept the craft straight and level, while the engines idled, allowing it to slow down to about 120 knots, raising the nose as it slowed, but not allowing the plane to actually climb. The stall happened shortly after the warning horn went off. At that point, she expertly eased off back pressure on the controls, allowed the nose to dip and picked up airspeed until the plan regained lift. When she regained control of the plane, she leveled it out, the grin never leaving her face. She liked doing that maneuver and wanted to do it a couple more times, but Ted wanted her to do some steep banked turns to pull a couple of gees which would allow her to get used to the aircraft's behavior. As she did these, she found the plane to be quick and responsive to her slightest touch of the controls.

"Well, Sarah, you clearly have this plane figured out," Ted said into his headset. "Let's head back to the hangar and finish the paperwork."

She was a little disappointed as she could have stayed up in the air all day. She had the feeling she would be using this plane for more than just missions. As much as she hated to admit it, Ted was right so she replied, "Copy," and began communicating with the tower to prepare for landing. She inserted herself into the landing pattern, circled around and lined up above the runway. As she approached the runway, she lowered the landing gear and the flaps, adjusted the trim to maintain a 140 knot descent, flared out and gently touched the wheels to the ground. She reversed the engines, braked and slowed the plane down to taxi back to the hangar. She expertly brought the plane to a stop just outside the hangar and switched off the engines.

Her body tingled from the exhilaration of flying such a fantastic airplane. And the thing she had to keep reminding herself was that this was her plane. Well, her and Chuck's, but she got to fly it.

She turned toward Ted and he smiled at the animation in her face. "You really love flying, don't you?" he asked with a chuckle.

She shrugged and asked with a laugh as she climbed out of her seat, "It's that obvious?"

"Yeah, it really is. By the way, Sarah, do you like movies about gladiators?"

She sighed. _When will it end?_

They deplaned and closed the jet's door. "I see you've made arrangements for the plane to be parked in a nearby hangar. Would you like it to be towed over to its new home?" Ted inquired.

"Yes, please. That would be great, thank you," Sarah replied with a wary smile. "I've already been in touch with an aircraft maintenance company here at the airport, so they will take care of it once it's parked in the hangar." She offered her hand and Ted shook it. "Thank you, Ted. Flying with you was a memorable experience."

He smiled and replied as he handed her his card, "Thank you. It was wonderful to meet you, too. Please call me if you have any questions."

She took his card and slid it into her pocket. Other than the random mental jags Ted went on, he seemed to really know his stuff. Ted turned and walked back to the office in the hangar. Sarah waited until the plane was parked before she walked back to the Lotus. She sat down in the driver's seat, pulled out her phone and placed a call. "Guess what I did today," she said with a grin.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Next time on _Return of the Ninja Librarian_:

"A song came on that I recognized. The minute I heard that drum pounding at the beginning, I knew we were in deep trouble." She paused a moment for dramatic effect.


	9. Chapter 9 Welcome to Renaissance History

**A/N**: Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews of the last chapter, Sarah's day of flying. I love how everyone has their favorite lines from _Airplane!_ Looking back, I should have figured out a way to get one of the "I picked the wrong day to stop drinking/smoking/sniffing glue" lines in the story. So, I'll just put it here. Enjoy.

I'd like to give a huge thank you to **Michael66** who beta'd this chapter and kept the story from going off into the weeds.

I don't own Chuck or any of the other TV shows or movies I continue to flagrantly use and abuse.

As always, please review.

**Chapter 9 – Welcome to Renaissance History**

It had taken a couple of days, but Chuck and Morgan were finally finishing up on the installation of all the equipment in Castle. Casey knew to stay out of way of the nerdlinger twins squeeing over each new piece of gadgetry that came out of a box, so he stayed upstairs keeping an eye on things there. Jen's plan of positive reinforcement worked well for some employees, not so well for others.

Lester, who had decided it was now his sole mission in life to drive the "she devil librarian" completely from the Buy More, led the band of misfits by setting up a kind of "librarian early warning system" he called the "Prairie Dog Rebellion." One greenshirt would be the lookout, poking his or her head up over a display shelf and watching the front door, waiting for Jen. The other employees would screw around until they heard the chirp warning sound from the lookout when they saw Jen arrived. They would then get back to work, acting like model employees. The idea had come to him while watching a show on Animal Planet. Why they kept calling those little animals meerkats when they were clearly prairie dogs he just couldn't understand.

Casey saw the "Prairie Dog" put into use on several different occasions since Jen came into the Buy More on a regular basis, usually tasked with purchasing various assorted types of cables, wires, adapters, switches and plugs needed for the installations going on downstairs.

Irritated that Lester might be getting away with something, Casey told Jen about the "Prairie Dog Rebellion" at his first opportunity.

Jen grinned and said, "Oh, I'm well aware of what's going on. Thanks for keeping an eye out, though, John. I appreciate it."

He hunched over to get a little closer to her level. "What are you going to do about it? You can't let the insurgents take control," he growled emphatically. "I've had to deal with these morons for years. You have to stay on top of them or they get completely out of control." He straightened and scanned the room, his blue eyes always watching.

"Don't worry, I won't." She stood as straight as she could nearly standing on her tiptoes as she tried to gain as much height as she could. It was really no use since Casey was still almost a foot and a half taller than she. She dropped her voice slightly and said, "I know Lester is behind all of this. He's still mad that the one bottle of skunky beer he gave me didn't get him the Nerd Herd supervisor job. Not that he has a problem about keeping grudges or anything," she deadpanned. "I'm going to take the head off this little conspiracy. After that, the rest of them will fall in line without his agitation. Lester will wish he stayed in his prairie dog hole." She gave him a wry smile. "I think I'm going to need your help. Are you up for messing with Lester's head?"

Casey grunted with pleasure and replied, "Always."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Since the team had been going about their different activities for several days, Chuck thought it would be a good idea for them to have a meeting and catch each other up on what was going on. The meeting was to start at 10 am. Chuck looked down at his watch and said, "Its 10:10 now and Jen isn't here yet. She's never late." He looked at Sarah and asked, "Should we be worried?"

Sarah's brow knit together with worry. "You're right, Chuck. She's never late." Sarah reached for her phone lying on the table and said, "I'll call and see…"

The door to Castle slowly opened and Jen, dressed in sweatpants and a T-shirt that read "Do Not Make Me Use My Librarian Voice" on the front, shuffled through it. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail and wore flip flops on her feet. She looked like she just rolled out of bed. Clutching the rail, she slowly descended the staircase making sure to place her feet squarely on the each step.

She made it to the bottom step and dragged her way across the room to where the rest of the team sat around the conference table. Once she made it to the table, she turned her shoulders, first to the right and then twisted them quickly to the left so her right arm got enough momentum to sling the briefcase in her hand up and onto the table. She flopped down heavily in her chair, crossed her forearms in front of her on the table and leaned forward until her forehead rested on the top arm.

The rest of the team glanced at each other, concerned. "Jen, are you sick?" Chuck ventured softly.

"No," replied the muffled voice.

"Um, are you hung over?" Morgan asked.

"Morgan!" Sarah chastised, shooting him a dirty look.

"What? She might be," he said defensively.

That elicited a muffled snort from under the forearms. "Too bad I'm not. That would have meant I had more fun last night than I did." There was a short pause and then she added, "I'm too old for this crap."

"Come on, Jen. Spill," Casey prodded.

Jen sat up with her eyes still closed and leaned back in her chair. "Sarah had a sleepover last night." She pried her eyes open and blinked a couple of times. Her eyes were red when she looked at them and said, "'Sleep over' is a terrible misnomer."

Chuck reached out to the center of the table and slid the lone Starbuck's cup in front of her. "We picked up coffee for everyone and got a cup of Earl Grey, hot, for you. Drink up. The caffeine will do you good."

"Bless you, my son," she groaned with appreciation as she took a long drink from the cup.

She closed her eyes again, waiting for the caffeine to kick in. She took another drink and continued, her head now resting against the back of the chair. "First there was pizza accompanied by gallons of soda with enough sugar and caffeine to re-animate a dead moose."

"Cool," Chuck cried. "Zombie mooses terrorizing mountain hermits during the zombie apocalypse."

Sarah crooked an eyebrow at him.

"What? Like hermits shouldn't have to deal with zombies like the rest of us?"

Casey growled, "Shut it, Bartowski. Nobody cares."

Jen sat so still they thought she had fallen asleep. They jumped slightly when she spoke suddenly, "Then there was a showing of the latest _Twilight_ movie, after which there was an argument as to which was better: Team Edward or Team Jacob."

"Well, being a bit hirsute myself, I support Team Jacob, since they're werewolves and all," Morgan began. His statement was met by smirks from Chuck, Sarah and Casey and a one-eyed stare from Jen.

"'Hirsute', Morgan?" Jen said with her first smile of the day. She gave a one-eyed glance to Chuck and asked, "Chuck, would you do the honors?" mimicking like she was going to give a high-five. "He's too far away and I'm too tired to get up and go all the way over there."

Chuck obliged and gave Morgan a high-five. "So you didn't get any sleep last night," Chuck stated. "Where was your husband?"

Jen snorted, her eyes closed once again. "My knight in shining armor was completely overwhelmed when confronted by that much estrogen all in one place. His near asphyxiation by nail polish fumes was the last straw. He fled for sanctuary in our bedroom." She took another drink of tea. The caffeine seemed to be kicking in. "He took the dogs, holed up with his noise cancelling headphones and watched _Farscape_ DVDs on his laptop."

"Good man," Casey said. "What?" he asked when faced with disapproving looks. "Those nail polish fumes aren't good for the dogs."

"Uh huh," Sarah deadpanned. She turned to Jen and asked, "So the movie was the end of the party?"

Jen let out a humorless laugh. "I wish. Next, it was time for the dance party portion of the festivities." She opened one eye again and glanced at them, "Mind you, by now it was 2 am. Putting a movie on during a sleep over when she was younger always put them to sleep." She paused. "Yeah, that doesn't work anymore." Her eye closed again as her narrative continued. "They danced for awhile to a bunch of songs I didn't know. It wasn't too loud, so I knew the neighbors were okay. But then, it happened."

The other four members of Team Bartowski sat forward, waiting with bated breath to find out what indeed happened next.

"A song came on that I recognized. The minute I heard that drum pounding at the beginning, I knew we were in deep trouble." She paused a moment for dramatic effect. "Love Shack," she intoned.

Casey's eyebrows shot up. "Wait a minute. I know that song. It's by the B-52's." Four eyebrows "Spocked" simultaneously. "Simmer down you. It was the 80's." His eyes squinted, "How did your daughter know that song?"

Jen sat up and opened her eyes. They seemed to be focusing better now that the caffeine surged through her veins. She gave him a sheepish smile and said, "She heard it in the car one day when we were driving somewhere. I had a classic rock station playing on the radio and it came on. I didn't even realize it registered with her."

"It is a classic," Morgan said ponderously.

"Anyway," Jen said with a smirk, "you know that part where Kate and Cindy sing quietly 'Bang, bang, bang on the door, baby' and Fred sings, 'Knock a little louder, sugar'? Well, they took his instructions to heart. By the time they got to the 'Bang, Bangs' at the end of the song, they were screaming at the top of their lungs, pounding on the walls and stomping their feet. Caltech is really close to us and I wouldn't be surprised if they had a reading of an earthquake on one of their seismographs just then."

"I thought that was Chuck," Sarah teased.

Chuck's mouth fell open and his brows shot up.

Jen snorted and winked at Sarah. "_Anyway_, as much as I wanted to let them have some fun, I didn't want them to bother the neighbors. So I had to be the 'horrible mother' much Sarah's mortification. After the 'Love Shack' incident, I made them settle down. I finally went to sleep about 4 am. When I left the house, the girls were spread throughout the house still asleep."

Sarah gave her a sympathetic smile. Given her less than normal childhood and teen years, she never was invited to a sleep over. If she was 15, she would have loved to have been at that party. "I'm sure Sarah will someday really appreciate that you let her have a fun party like that."

Jen saw in her friend's eyes a kind of longing and realized that she was right. Sacrificing a few hours of sleep was worth her daughter making great memories. "Yeah, Sarah. You're right."

Seeing that Jen's story seemed to have concluded, Chuck spoke up. "Well, while Jen continues her journey from the land of the living dead, the rest of us will give our sitreps. I'll start," Chuck said. "Morgan and I have finished installing everything, so Castle is now back up and running at full power." This was met with a round of applause. "Your new laptops have all the appropriate software installed, so everyone should come see me to get yours as soon as possible." Heads nodded.

"What about building your dad's computer, Chuck?" Jen asked, sipping her tea. "How's that going?"

"I've gone over the schematics and I'm working on gathering all the components together right now. I hope to start building it soon."

"How long will it take to build it?" she asked.

"I really don't know for sure," he shrugged. "Maybe a couple of weeks? Getting the motherboard fabricated will be the biggest headache. I need to find a place that can do custom assembly."

"Can't you do that yourself?" Sarah asked.

"I could assemble it, sure, but I don't have all the test equipment to make sure it's working properly."

"Ah."

"Casey, what's up with you?" Sarah asked.

"I've been looking into acquiring some more weapons and ammunition. It's all good," he answered vaguely.

"Okay, excellent," Chuck said quickly.

"He's also helping me with a slight personnel problem upstairs," Jen added, giving Casey a wink.

Morgan sat up and said, "Well, I'm the manager. I should take care of that. Or have Big Mike handle it."

"It's Lester," she said flatly.

Without missing a beat, Morgan repeatedly waved his hands like he was pushing something away with the back of his fingers and rolled his eyes up toward the ceiling. "Okay. Never mind. Go right ahead and handle that. Good luck."

Casey's eyes actually showed amusement.

"And Jen," Morgan said, "I've got those EVA profit margin numbers for you."

"Good, Morgan. Let's go over those tomorrow, okay. Nice work," she said, smiling.

He blushed slightly.

"You want a free pizza, don't you?" Jen asked, her voice teasing.

"What? Me? No!" he protested. Seeing that no one believed him, he hung his head and confessed, "Well, yes."

She rummaged around in her briefcase, pulled out a coupon and slid it across the table to Morgan. He grabbed it with a big smile, folded it in half and put it in his pocket.

"Oh, and I flashed yesterday," Morgan said.

"What?" Chuck cried. "Morgan, you're supposed to tell us right away when that happens," he said a little too loudly.

"I'm sorry, Chuck. It's just that I was watching this thing on TV and I saw this guy and then there were these pictures in my head of some fish and some other stuff and I'm sorry, guys, I don't remember," he rambled.

Casey rolled his eyes in disgust and Chuck tried to placate Morgan by saying, "It's okay, buddy. We wouldn't be able to do anything about it at this point anyway."

Morgan nodded dejectedly and remained silent.

Not wanting to dwell on Morgan for too long, Chuck asked with a smile, "Sarah, what have you been up to?"

"Well, Chuck," she said officiously, "I took possession of our new Gulfstream the other day. I took her up with the Gulfstream rep. She flies like a dream."

"Only once, Sarah?" Jen asked, teasing her friend.

Sarah blushed slightly and said, "Well, I've been out with her a couple of times. I need to be familiar with the plane before we fly to Washington and practice makes perfect." Her eyes danced as she said, "She now has a happy home in a hangar at the Van Nuys Airport."

Every head around the table nodded with approval.

"Speaking of Washington, how's your research going, Jen? Do you have anything to report?" Chuck asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do," she replied, removing her laptop from her briefcase. The caffeine had done its job and she was much more herself. "Do you have a cable so we can plug this thing into that big monitor there so everyone can see what I'll be talking about?" she asked.

"You wound the Nerd Herd supervisor, Jen," Chuck teased, leaping out of his chair and retrieving the cable and plugging it into her laptop.

She snickered, "Of course. Forgive me, Oh Great One."

Within a couple of minutes, they had Jen's laptop screen displayed on the monitor.

"As you probably remember, when we tracked down Orion's laptop, we found out there were other artifacts stored near it. I did some research on those artifacts. I think we can use this information to our advantage."

She drew in a deep breath and began, "A few years ago there was another CIA team based out of LA. Like you, they hunted evil doers and brought down nefarious cabals of bad guys. Over the course of their work here, they acquired a number of inventions, devices and artifacts in connection with this man," she clicked a button on her laptop and the image of a man dressed in Italian Renaissance clothing appeared the monitor, "Milo Rambaldi. Rambaldi was a 15th century Italian architect and inventor. He's best remembered as the chief architect of Pope Alexander VI who before he became pope was known as Rodrigo Borgia."

"Borgia," Chuck said. "Didn't they just do something about them on TV?"

Morgan nodded. "Yeah, I saw commercials for it. It looked pretty steamy."

Jen nodded. "The Borgia family was pretty steamy. Lucrezia Borgia, his daughter, is known as one of the most notorious and scandalous women of the Renaissance." As she spoke pictures of paintings of first Rodrigo and then Lucrezia filled the screen.

"Wait!" Morgan interjected. "The pope had a daughter? Aren't popes supposed to be, ah…"

"Celibate?" Jen supplied. She nodded, "They were supposed to be, but back then it wasn't always the case. Rodrigo Borgia had several children, actually. You know, it's interesting. I did some research on Rodrigo Borgia not too long ago and found all kinds of interesting scholarly articles about him on Academic Search Premier. It seems that…"

She stopped when she was met with four sets of raised eyebrows. She cleared her throat and continued, "Rambaldi was more than just an architect. He was also an inventor and prophet. Clues to his prophecies were hidden in his inventions and writings. He was kind of a combination of Leonardo da Vinci and Nostradamus. In the end, the main thing he was trying to do was find a way to live forever."

"How come we've never heard of this guy?" Chuck asked.

"Rambaldi was a visionary and way ahead of his time. That makes people nervous and suspicious. There was a cardinal who was fearful of Rambaldi's revolutionary technologies and worked to discredit him, his prophecies and inventions. Rambaldi died in 1496 and Alexander VI was in conflict with this cardinal until his own death in 1503. When the pope died, all bets were off and the cardinal ordered that everything of Rambaldi's work and writings be contained and destroyed. We don't know how much was destroyed, but not everything as a surprising number of artifacts have popped up over the years."

"I don't see why the CIA would be involved with this," Sarah said. "It sounds like all of this is just ancient history."

"Well, from what I can glean from the reports Special Agent McGee forwarded to me about this particular CIA team, modern day followers of the Order of Rambaldi were trying to find the artifacts and the CIA was trying to get to them first. It's all a very long and convoluted story." Jen took a sip of tea.

"What's all this got to do with us?" Casey asked with a bit of an edge in his voice. He just about had enough of the history lesson.

"Several of the Rambaldi artifacts the CIA team got their hands on are stored near Chuck's dad's computer," she stated as she clicked on the touch pad and flashed several pictures of the artifacts on the monitor. Images of a clock, something that looked like a jewelry box, a kaleidoscope and an hourglass cycled through on the screen. "I'm going to contact Special Agent David, whose boyfriend is a CIA agent and ask if I can get permission to go look at those Rambaldi devices. I'll tell them I'm writing a book on Rambaldi and need to look at the artifacts they have. I go in, act like I'm working with the Rambaldi artifacts, do the old hard drive switcheroo and walk out the front door. No sweat."

While she was speaking, Morgan's eyes rolled to the back of his head as wave after wave of flashes washed over him. All eyes were on him when he opened his eyes when the last flash receded from his vision. "Whoa, Jen, there was some seriously crazy stuff that went on with those artifacts. Are you sure you're safe even asking about them?"

Upon hearing Morgan's pronouncement all eyes became worried and shifted from Morgan to Jen.

Sarah jumped out of her chair and started to pace the room. "Jen, this sounds too dangerous. The Rambaldi objects might stir up a hornet's nest. And none of us can go in with you since I doubt the CIA would be happy to see any of us around there. You wouldn't have any back up on the inside."

"Sarah's right," Casey agreed. "Too many variables we can't control and this Rambaldi business sounds just plain crazy."

"It might be, but Rambaldi's not the point here." Jen countered. "We all agree that the only way to get the Intersect out of Morgan's head is with the software on that laptop currently in the CIA's possession. You've already said I'm the only one the CIA won't suspect. I'll be a civilian with clearance given to me by an active CIA agent who has no connection to any of you or this other now defunct CIA team. I can't see how anyone could make the connections. I'll just be a civilian researching a book."

"I don't like it," Sarah said as she continued to pace the room. "Going into that building, you will have no weapons, no comms, no way for us to help you if it goes south. There must be another way to do this." She gave Chuck a pleading look, hoping he would be able to come up with a different solution than the one currently offered by Jen.

"Jen, Sarah's right. We can't have you go in without backup. You need someone with you," Chuck's voice was stern and it was clear he wasn't going to allow Jen to do this alone.

Sarah gave Chuck a grateful smile.

"Okay, but I thought you said none of you could go in?" Jen argued.

Chuck nodded his head slowly, thinking. "Yes, as ourselves." He turned to Sarah and said, "Sarah, we can't risk you going in. You worked out of that building for years and I don't think there's a disguise on this earth that would keep someone from the agency recognizing you."

Sarah frowned but nodded knowing that Chuck was right.

"I can't go in because I'll be busy hacking into the CIA security cameras and watching what's going on inside the building from the van."

"You can do that?" Jen asked.

Chuck grinned. "Why do you think I put all that software on our laptops? They aren't just for playing solitaire, you know," he replied solemnly.

"Wait!" Sarah said. "You're _volunteering_ to stay in the van?"

"Well, yeah. Especially if you're going to be in there with me," he replied, his eyebrows dancing.

"Ugh," Casey groaned.

Sarah rewarded Chuck with a wink.

Chuck continued, "Morgan can't go in either. If they somehow found out he's got the Intersect in his head, he'll never leave that building."

The room felt like it dropped fifty degrees. Suddenly, they were all reminded how serious this was.

"So that leaves me," Casey stated.

"Yes, Casey, it does," Chuck acknowledged. "We need you to be in disguise and go in with Jen as her backup. It's the only way we can let this mission happen."

"Chuck's right," Sarah agreed. "What if you say Casey is there to help you with your research?"

Jen thought for a moment and then brightened. "Sure, why not? But we can't use Casey's name, right?"

"No, Casey needs an alias," Chuck said. A look of inspiration crossed his face. He walked over to Jen's computer, spun it toward him and did a quick Google search.

"How about the name 'Peter Boyd?'" Chuck asked.

Casey's eyes narrowed as he shot a glance Chuck's way. "Why do I know that name?"

"It was the name of Ronald Reagan's character in _Bedtime for Bonzo_. He played a professor."

"Chuck, that's perfect!" Sarah exclaimed. "It's not memorable and no one will pay attention if a professor comes along with a researcher writing a book. You could say you're working on the book together."

Jen nodded. "Works for me."

Casey sat tall in his chair and said proudly, "If 'Peter Boyd' was good enough for Ronald Reagan, it's good enough for me."

The room crackled with the excitement of a plan coming together. "So, Jen, when you contact Special Agent David, request permission for both you and Professor Boyd to go into the storage area," Chuck instructed. "In the meantime, we'll get some fake IDs made up for the good professor. We'll fly to DC in the Gulfstream as soon as we hear from Special Agent David," he finished. "And, Jen? Go home and get some sleep."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Next time on _Return of the Ninja Librarian_:

"Mom, you're such a geek."

"Nerd, sweetie. Your mom's a nerd."

The teenager gave her a confused look.

"Trust me. We prefer nerd. There's a difference."


	10. Chapter 10 Girls Night Out

**A/N**: Thanks to **Michael66** who beta'd this chapter for me.

The number of reviews were way down for the last chapter, so hopefully you will find this chapter more to your liking. Or maybe not. Either way, please let me know what you think.

Standard disclaimer inserted here. Don't own Chuck, no money was exchanged, etc. Because really, who would pay for this?

**Chapter 10 – Girls Night Out**

Sarah was with Jen when she called Special Agent David just in case she needed her help. Jen smoothly asked if her CIA boyfriend would be able to help her acquire clearance for her and "Professor Boyd" to enter the CIA storage area where Orion's computer, and more importantly, its hard drive, was housed. Special Agent David promised to contact her boyfriend and then let Jen know if permission was granted. She didn't think there would any issues, but they did have to go through the proper channels. Until then, they would have to simply wait.

In the meantime, Chuck had commandeered a room in Castle and turned it into his laptop building workshop. Computer bits, parts and components were scattered across one of the tables and schematics covered another. When Sarah walked into his workshop, she found him hunched over the workbench with his soldering iron in his hand, thin wisps of smoke curling up past his head. Intent on his work, he was oblivious to her approach. He nearly jumped out of his chair and let out a yelp when she came up from behind and lightly placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Hi yo!" he laughed, trying to catch his breath. "Sarah, you scared me."

"How did you know it was me? You didn't turn around." She began to massage his shoulders.

"Well, I would hope that neither Casey nor Morgan would ever put their hands on my shoulders the way you just did," he replied, returning to his soldering.

"That's true," she conceded, gently kneading the muscles in his shoulders and arms as he worked. Soon he took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. His shoulders began to relax under her touch. A gasp escaped from his throat when she found a knot in his shoulder and dug her thumb into it. She rubbed her thumb slowly in a circle, working the knot. A long, low groan of pleasure rumbled from deep within his chest. He somehow managed to get the soldering iron into its holder before he lost all muscle control and singe something that shouldn't be.

She knew she had him when he tipped his head forward and rested his chin on his chest so she could massage his neck and run her hands through his hair. A smile curled on her lips when she heard another groan as she circled her thumb on another knot, this one in his neck just below the base of his skull.

"Oh my god, Chuck, it feels like you have a rock stuck right there. You need to take more breaks from your work down here," she gently scolded him while she worked the knot with her fingers. "I guess I'll have to come down here and make you take a break once in awhile."

"If you do this every time you come in here, you have my permission to make me take a break whenever you want," he replied lazily.

She leaned over from behind, put her head right next to his and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Don't tempt me, Chuck," she whispered and nipped his ear.

She stood when he swiveled his chair around and opened his arms inviting her to sit on his lap. She happily complied, placing herself on his lap and resting an arm across his shoulders. With his hands laced together around her waist, he looked into her eyes and said languidly, "What tempting? I'm giving you permission to come break me anytime you want."

A slow smile crept across her face. "Break you?"

He nodded slowly, his eyes capturing hers. "Mm-hmm. Break me."

She lightly ran a finger along his jaw line, up his chin and rested it on his lips. His lips parted slightly, allowing her fingertip entry. She took a sharp breath when he gently closed his lips around her fingertip and captured it between his teeth. When he sensuously stroked the imprisoned fingertip with his tongue, her heart pounded and she licked her lips as she dropped her eyes to his lips. _Lucky finger_. What he was doing to her whole body just through one fingertip was criminal. It was pure excruciating ecstasy.

He seemed content to simply tease her, but soon she couldn't take anymore and left her finger where it was, leaned in and added her tongue. His body convulsed at the unexpected and welcome addition. An moan escaped as he responded to her ferocious kiss, plunging his tongue into her mouth and tangling one hand in her hair. The arm that had relaxed across his shoulders now moved down his back and pressed him as closely to her as humanly possible.

She reluctantly broke the kiss and moved her mouth to his ear. The fingertip remained on Chuck's lips. "Can I break you right now?" she panted.

He sucked on her finger in reply. "Isn't that what you're doing?" he whispered.

She leaned in again and gave him another searing kiss. She growled, "Baby, you ain't seen nothin' yet."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sarah sat at the conference room table, staring blankly at a chart in the Gulfstream manual lying open on the table in front of her. Her mind wandered and she found herself grinning when she thought about how relaxed Chuck looked when she left him after their break time. _It's not good for him to be too tense_, she reasoned. Well, she was certain he wasn't tense anymore. She was pulled back from her ruminations when her phone buzzed. She picked it up off the table and looked at the screen. It was a text from Jen.

_JHatch: DC's a go._

_SpyGrl: Great._

_JHatch: R we still on 4 this evening?_

_SpyGrl: Yup._

_JHatch: Can Sarah come?_

_SpyGrl: Of course. (-:_

_JHatch: (-: C u soon._

Sarah was really looking forward to this evening with Jen and was excited her daughter, Sarah, was coming along. Sarah had only met her a couple of times, but she seemed like a pretty cool kid. The first time she met her was when she drove Jen home from the auction after Jen had shot Vivian Volkoff in the shoulder. At the time, Jen was understandably a bit shook up so Sarah had volunteered to drive Jen back to Pasadena in Jen's car, pick her daughter up at school and take them home. She remembered being amazed at the lack of tension between Jen and Sarah since she assumed that mothers and their teenage daughters were always at each other's throats. Now that she knew Jen better, she wasn't surprised. She had the feeling Jen wasn't like a lot of other moms.

The other time Sarah met Jen's daughter was at her wedding. But it was only for a moment and frankly, so much of that day was a blur, Sarah wasn't sure how much of it she even remembered.

Sarah closed the manual and wandered around Castle until she found Chuck and Morgan in one of the many game rooms. The boys had pretty much managed to put a different gaming platform in every room. She gave Chuck a quick kiss goodbye before she left them happily playing _Call of Duty_ for their boys' night in while she had her girls' night out. Apparently they had a new team member named "Elf Lord" with whom they were communicating over their headsets. She recognized the name "Elf Lord" from the phone call Jen had had with her cousin, Jethro, but she didn't know what it meant. Truth be told, she wasn't sure if she even wanted to know.

Sarah drove the Lotus to Jen's house in Pasadena. She lived in a modest, single level house on a quiet, tree lined street. She recognized Jen's Rav4 parked in the driveway as she pulled her car in front of the house. Sarah walked up the path that ran down the center of the front yard and knocked on the door. Her knock caused an immediate ruckus on the other side of the door where there was barking, snuffling, and the sound of dog toenails scrabbling on hardwood floors.

"Just a second!" came a yell from the other side of the door. There was a short, sharp whistle blown between teeth and the barking immediately stopped. Sarah heard an authoritative voice command, "Go." There was a pause as toenails clicked. "Sit." Another short pause. "Wait." A few seconds later the front door opened to reveal a smiling Jen and two excited dogs sitting a few feet away.

"Sarah, please come in," Jen invited as she opened the door further so Sarah could step in. "Please excuse these mongrels," Jen said with an affectionate smile at her dogs, closing the door behind her. "They forget their manners sometimes."

When Sarah entered the house, Buster, the yellow lab, started to wag his tail so hard his butt came up off the floor and his whole backside swayed left and right, even as he tried to stay in his sit. Scooter, the rescue mix, managed to control himself better, but his eyes still shone with excitement.

"Are you okay with dogs?" Jen asked. "I can put them out in the backyard if they bother you."

"No, it's fine. I just haven't been around dogs much," she answered somewhat hesitantly.

"Alright, then." Jen moved directly in front of the two sitting dogs and placed her right index finger next to her eye and said in a commanding voice, "Watch me." The dogs' eyes snapped up to Jen's and looked her right in the eyes. When she had both of their attention, she quietly said, "Release." Although the dogs immediately raced toward Sarah and she braced for impact, the expected jumps never materialized. Instead, both dogs stood in front of her, tails and butts wagging, tongues hanging out of their mouths panting with anticipation.

Sarah relaxed some since the dogs seemed so well behaved. She looked at the lab and said, "Hello, Buster," which sent him into a frenzy of excitement. Unable to control the thrill of being spoken to, he spun around several times and then sat, looking up at her with absolute adoration in his eyes, tail wagging the entire time. Sarah laughed out loud at this clown of a dog.

She looked over at Scooter, who was excited as well, but much more controlled. Realizing she had given him her attention, he stopped his wagging and stood still, his head cocked to one side. He looked into her eyes, as if he were reading her thoughts. Suddenly, he circled around behind her, stopped by her left leg so that they faced the same direction and sat down in classic heel position. He looked up at her expectantly.

Her eyes widened as she looked from Scooter to Jen. Jen looked down at Scooter warmly and said, "Ah! I see Scooter has read your thoughts and has decided you need him as your best friend. Congratulations. He'll follow you around now until we leave. He only does that with people he loves. He doesn't squander his affection. You should feel special."

Sarah shrugged, unsure what to say to that.

Buster lost focus when he realized Sarah didn't have any food, toys or a ball. He trotted toward Jen's daughter when she entered the room and stood next to her mom.

The teenager smiled brightly at Sarah, gave a little wave and said, "Hi, Mrs. Bartowski." Her long blonde hair fell down her back and she had the same smile as her mom. She wore jeans and a Beatles T-shirt with the _Let It Be_ album cover art on the front of it. Sarah noticed the black chucks that she wore on her feet. The daughter stood a little taller than the mom.

"Hi, Sarah," she said with a smile of her own. "And please, call me Sarah. I'm still getting used to Mrs. Bartowski." She was feeling a little nervous at the prospect of interacting with Jen's daughter tonight. She didn't have much experience with kids at any age and teenagers seemed like a whole different species.

"You know, this could get very confusing with two Sarah's tonight," Jen said, moving toward the kitchen. The two Sarah's followed, one with Scooter still at her side and the other with Buster circling her legs as she walked. Looking at her daughter she said, "Why don't we use one of the nicknames Dad and I had for you when you were little, just for tonight."

Sarah's eyes grew wide at the horrifying idea. "No, Mom. No way," she replied emphatically, shaking her head.

Jen winked at her friend and said to her daughter in mock disbelief, "What? I can't believe you don't want me calling you 'Peanut' in public the rest of the evening. If you don't like that there's always 'Baby Girl' or 'Sweet Pea.'"

"Mom, do you want me to stay home?" she groused, clearly miffed at her mother's teasing. Buster decided it was time to leave after hearing the tone in her voice and wandered out of the room.

Jen held up a hand to settle her daughter down. "Relax. I'm just kidding. We could call you 'Sarah Junior.' Or maybe just 'Junior.'"

The irritation in her daughter's face was replaced by thoughtfulness. "Maybe," she replied. "It is better than 'Peanut.'"

Sarah stood quietly watching this exchange, fascinated by their interactions. She smiled at the mortified look on Sarah's face when the nickname 'Peanut' was floated. The name 'Junior' might work, but didn't really seem to fit. Jen's Sarah needed to stay Sarah. Then an idea struck her.

"I think I might have a solution," she said, stepping forward. Jen and Sarah looked at her expectantly as did Scooter, who had not left her side. She felt a little shy saying it and she certainly didn't want to appear presumptuous, but it seemed like the best solution. "Why doesn't she call me 'Aunt Sarah'? I get the cool nickname and she can stay Sarah. And Jen, when we're with Sarah, you call me 'Aunt Sarah,' too. That way we'll know who you are talking to." She held her breath and watched Sarah's face. She heaved a sigh of relief when a huge grin erupted and her blue eyes danced just as her mother's did at that very moment.

"An excellent solution, Aunt Sarah," Jen declared.

Mark walked into the kitchen with Buster in tow. The dog seemed inordinately proud of the stuffed duck he carried in his mouth.

"Hi, Sarah," Mark called, giving her a wave. "Ready for your big night out with my girls?"

"Dad, we're only going to In-N-Out and the comic book store," his daughter said in a voice that implied that he was completely and utterly clueless.

"Right. Sorry," he said with a smirk. Jen and Mark shared knowing smiles with each other and Jen rolled her eyes. He looked to Sarah and deadpanned, "So, _Aunt Sarah_, I didn't realize you are a comic book fan."

"Oh, yeah. From way back." Her response dripped with sarcasm. "Actually, you'll be surprised to know that this little excursion is to pick up some new graphic novels for Chuck." She changed her voice when she said "graphic novels" trying to add weight and solemnity to the words, but the twinkle in her eyes gave her away. "He has a tendency to get a little antsy when he's on a long plane trip and I figured with our upcoming trip to DC, having some new things for him to read might help pass the time."

Mark nodded, popped the top on a can of soda and took a sip. "That trip sounds like it should be interesting. I hope it goes well," he said vaguely.

"I'm sure it will," she replied. She didn't know exactly what Jen had told her family about the trip to DC, so she thought it might be time to change the subject. She glanced at her watch and said, "Don't you think we should get going? It will take awhile to get our food at In-N-Out, and I don't know how late the comic book store is open."

"Aunt Sarah is right," Jen said. "Let's get going." She walked over to Mark and gave him a quick kiss on the lips and a hug. "Don't work too hard while we're gone," she said quietly in his ear.

"I won't. I'll take the dogs for a wa-," he stopped short when he saw Scooter's head tilt to one side with anticipation and corrected himself, "an ambulation in a little while. You have fun. Love you."

She gave him another kiss and said, "Love you, too."

The two Sarahs exchanged looks during Jen and Mark's tete-à-tete. The older Sarah wasn't fooled by the younger Sarah's eye-rolling. The appreciation their daughter had for her parents' love for each other was clearly evident in the grin on her face.

Jen pulled away from her husband, grabbed her purse and headed for the front door. "Buy the way, Aunt Sarah, I've been informed that Sarah's not going at all if we don't go in the Lotus. And apparently, as the shortest, I'm sitting in the back."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sarah drove slowly down East Green Street near the comic book store, not too far from Pasadena City College and Caltech, looking for a place to park. The area was surprisingly crowded for a Wednesday night, which was also the case at the In-N-Out where the three of them had just eaten. They were a couple of blocks from the store, but when she spied an open parking space she quickly maneuvered the car into it. Sarah shut off the engine and looked over her shoulder to where Jen sat in the back seat. "Will she be okay? Will she ever forgive us?"

"Oh, yeah, she'll be okay. Now the forgiveness part, maybe, eventually. This has happened to her before. Now that she's a teenager, she's a little more…ah…sensitive to it. We thought she was better about it since it hasn't happened in while. She expects noises from me when we eat at In-N-Out, but when it came from you, too, I think it was too much."

They both looked at the sulking teenager in the front passenger seat of the Lotus, wearing a scowl on her face and arms crossed in front of her. She had not said a word to either of them in quite some time.

"Is there a way to fix her? I mean, how long will she stay like this?" Sarah was clearly concerned.

"There's no way to know for sure, but she'll be okay," Jen assured her. "If we get her mind off of it and onto something else, maybe she'll snap out of it." Jen was quiet for a moment as she thought about their current predicament. She snapped her fingers with inspiration. "She has the same reaction to this one actor's name every time she hears it. Watch."

From the backseat, Jen grabbed the headrest and pulled herself forward to move closer to her daughter, whose face still wore a frown of anger and irritation. "Matt Bomer," Jen said quietly.

The scowl instantly disappeared. A happy smile graced her face and her eyes took on a dreamy look. An "mmmmmmmm" sound escaped from her throat.

"See? She makes the same sound every time. You try it."

Sarah gave her a dubious look, but gave it a try. "Matt Bomer."

"Mmmmmmmm."

Sarah giggled. That had to be one of the cutest things she had ever seen.

"She's in her happy place now," Jen said quietly. "Give her another minute and she'll be as good as new."

"Who's this Matt Bomer guy?" Sarah asked curiously. "I've never heard of him."

"Oh, he's on this TV show we watch. He's a handsome guy, if you like dark hair and blue eyes. You know the type."

Sarah shrugged and opened the car door. The sound ripped the younger Sarah from her happy place and the scarring memories of the In-N-Out rushed back. Her eyes widened with horror. "You were there," she whispered, pointing at her mother. She turned to Sarah, whose car door still was open. "And you were there, too." Her face held a betrayed look and said, "Oh, Aunt Sarah! Did my mom put you up to that?"

Sarah's face flushed with embarrassment. "No, sweetie. I'm afraid I've been embarrassing my In-N-Out eating companions for quite some time, well before I ever met your mom." She shrugged and looked over at Jen. "We can't help it. It just happens."

From the back seat came two words. "Matt Bomer."

"Mmmmmmmm." There was a pause and then her eyes grew wide with shock and understanding. She clamped her hand over her mouth when she realized that her own throat had just betrayed her. "Oh my god," she mumbled behind the hand still clamped over her mouth. "I'm just like you."

Neither Jen nor Sarah knew what would come next. They sat perfectly still, afraid a sudden movement might send the teenager into a permanent catatonic state. They glanced anxiously at each other and held their breaths.

They heard a giggle, muffled by the hand still over the mouth. The giggle grew in strength and was soon a full throated laugh. Sarah and Jen relaxed and soon all three were laughing, tears pooling in their eyes. When they finally were able to get themselves under control, one of them would start laughing again and the whole thing would start over. Finally, Sarah was able to gasp, "Mom, Aunt Sarah, I promise I will never freak out when I eat with you at In-N-Out ever again."

"Ah, our work here is done," Jen intoned with mock malevolence. "We have lured her to the dark side."

"Mom, you're such a geek."

"Nerd, sweetie. Your mom's a nerd."

The teenager gave her 'Aunt' a confused look.

"Trust me. We prefer nerd. There's a difference."

"We? You're not a nerd."

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Sarah laughed. "You should have seen me in high school." She gave a shudder. "It would have been a step up for me to be a nerd." She quietly closed the car door. It looked like it wasn't quite time to leave the car.

"Really?" The teenager looked at Sarah, unconvinced. "But look at you. You're, you know," she stopped and then said shyly, "gorgeous."

Sarah lowered her eyes with embarrassment and said, "Thanks. You're sweet. Let's just say I grew out of my awkward stage." She raised her gaze, looked intently into her "niece's" eyes and recognized the kind of insecurity she herself felt in high school. Even though she wasn't great with sharing her feelings, Sarah knew this was an opportunity she couldn't miss with her young friend. "You don't feel like you fit in, do you?"

With downcast eyes, the response was a slight shake of the head.

"You're not in the 'popular group,' am I right?"

Another small shake of the head.

"Good," Sarah said emphatically. "They're mean."

The tear filled eyes rose and met Sarah's.

"Are you smart?"

She shrugged a shoulder and cocked her head to one side.

"Do you get good grades?"

A nod. "Straight A's," she replied quietly.

"Do you have friends?"

"A few."

"Are they good friends? One's you can really talk to? Or are they just shallow, party types?"

The younger Sarah scrunched her nose in disgust at the idea of hanging out with the partiers. "Good friends," she murmured.

"The one's you had for a sleepover the other night?"

Her eyes grew wide. "My mom told you about that?" she squeaked.

Sarah nodded. "You want to know a secret? I wish I could have been there. It sounded like it was a lot of fun."

Sarah saw her visibly relax. "Really?"

"Mm-hmmm. Look, sweetie, I know you may feel all awkward right now, but honestly, you are already stunningly beautiful. I have to warn you. In the not too distant future, you're going give your dad fits when all those boys come knocking at your door."

That was met with a weak, disbelieving smile.

"You don't believe me now, but you'll see. And don't worry about being popular, now or in the future. Embrace being a nerd. I just married one and he is the nicest, sweetest, most loving and compassionate man I have ever known. And some day, when you become a huge success because you're smart and talented, you can hire Griff Tannen to wash your car and cut your grass."

"Oh, my god, you are a nerd!" She laughed as she wiped her eyes and sniffed a couple of times. "Thank you, Aunt Sarah," she whispered as they embraced.

"Okay. Now let's go buy some comi-, I mean graphic novels," Sarah said as she glanced into the backseat. There she saw Jen with tears streaming down her face, her nose red and running. Jen opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again and shook her head, unable to speak.

"Aunt Sarah! You've done something none of us have ever been able to do. You made my mom speechless."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Next time on _Return of the Ninja Librarian_:

The store grew fairly quite again as the only sounds heard were the rustling of plastic sheathed comic books and graphic novels as they were shuffled through and examined. The only other sound was someone quietly saying over and over, "Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it."


	11. Chapter 11 The Comic Center of Pasadena

**A/N:** Thank you to everyone who continues to review and/or read this story. I appreciate more than you know.

Thank you to **Michael66** who beta'd this chapter for me. I'm proud to say that because of this chapter, he is now enjoying a new television show.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own _Chuck_ or any of the other TV shows I use *cough, exploit, cough*, because clearly, I've never had an original idea.

**Chapter 11 – The Comic Center of Pasadena**

They strolled down the sidewalk toward the comic book store. The talk in the car cemented a bond between the two Sarahs, who now walked comfortably side-by-side. Jen couldn't be happier than seeing her daughter and her friend form a relationship.

Out of the blue, Jen said, "Hey! Why isn't it 'Spidermun?' You know, like Goldman, Silverman?"

Her daughter giggled and answered, "It's not his last name."

Sarah turned her head and leaned forward to get a better look at the other two. They both wore grins and seemed to be in their own little world.

"It's not?" Jen said in astonishment.

"No. It's not like…like 'Phil Spidermun.' He's a spider _man_. You know, like, uh, like Goldman is a last name, but there's no gold _man_," she replied to her mother in a very serious tone.

"Oh, okay!" Jen said. She paused and the exclaimed excitedly, "There should _be_ a 'Gold-Man!'"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

They approached the front of the comic books store when Jen asked, "So what kind of powers would Gold-Man have?"

Her daughter thought for a moment and answered, "Okay, well, he would turn things to gold."

"What about things that are already gold?"

She smiled triumphantly when she answered with a grin, "Ah, his work is done."

Sarah was the first to reach the door to the comic book store and opened it with a smile. That conversation sounded like the kind of discussion Chuck and Morgan would have. _Nerds really are everywhere_, she thought as Jen and her daughter walked through the open door. She followed them inside the store and stopped in her tracks. _Truer words were never spoken_, she thought as she looked around the store.

The place was floor to ceiling all things comic and science fiction. There were comic books, posters, t-shirts, action figures and sculpted minis. There was Star Wars, Star Trek and Lord of the Rings. There was Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, Catwoman, Wonder Woman and every other comic book character imaginable. Against the walls were black metal wire magazine racks that held every different comic book one could ever want, each carefully protected by from dirt and oily fingers by plastic sleeves.

"Whoa," Sarah breathed. "How have Chuck and Morgan never been here?" she wondered aloud. "It's Nerdvana."

"I don't know if you should tell them about it," Jen said quietly. "You may never see your husband again. He'll just live here."

Sarah nodded mutely, still overwhelmed by the sheer volume of stuff around her as they walked further into the store. In fact, she was so flummoxed that she didn't even notice that everyone in the store had stopped talking and was staring at her, mouths agape.

Jen noticed immediately and smirked. She gently elbowed her daughter and pointed with her head at the sight before them. Sarah grinned and nodded with understanding. Her mom leaned close and said softly, "This happens all the time. She's like nerd Kryptonite. She renders helpless every nerd she meets."

Sarah giggled and Jen continued, "Do you remember my friend James from the UCLA library?" Her daughter nodded. "He looked just like that guy over there," she said, indicating the man of Indian descent wearing a paisley shirt, argyle vest and polyester tracksuit jacket. His eyes were glazed and stared unfixed at the older Sarah. The younger Sarah snorted and then clamped her hand over her mouth in embarrassment at the sound she had made.

The Indian man was apparently accompanied by a tall, thin man wearing a Green Lantern t-shirt over a red long sleeved shirt, a much shorter man with wavy hair and black rimmed glasses and a man who could only be described as a cross between Ringo Starr and Austin Powers. He was resplendent in his skin tight red pants, matching red turtleneck and large Batman belt buckle. The four of them stood at the four corners of one of the tables that held hundreds of comic books, each standing upright and encased in their protective plastic sleeves. The tallest man was the first to return to rifling through the row of comic books before him.

Jen and the two Sarah's began browsing around the store and tried to ignore the heated, whispered argument that seemed to break out between the four men at the table. Each would occasionally steal quick and furtive glances at Sarah, who chose to simply ignore them. Instead, she approached the man behind the sales counter to ask him for assistance. Her movement caused the room to fall silent again. Jen and her daughter simply watched the scene unfold before them with great amusement.

"How can I help you," the man behind the counter asked Sarah bravely, his voice stronger than he felt.

Sarah gave him a smile. "I'm looking for the com-, the Brian K. Vaughn graphic novel series, _Ex Machina_. Could you point them out to me?"

He jerked when he heard that she actually sounded like she knew what she was talking about. His chest puffed out a little when he came around the end of the counter and strode toward the table that held what she was looking for. Although the tall, thin man was no longer watching the scene, all other eyes, including a large man wearing sweatpants and a Captain America t-shirt, were on him enviously as he proudly said, "Here are all of the Brian Vaughn things we have. Go ahead and take a look."

She smiled her thanks and then raised an eyebrow at him when he continued to stand next to her. He got the hint and mumbled, "Let me know if I can help you in any way." Turning away reluctantly, he shuffled back toward the counter.

The store grew fairly quite again as the only sounds heard were the rustling of plastic sheathed comic books and graphic novels as they were shuffled through and examined. The only other sound was someone quietly saying over and over, "Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it."

"Hush, Sheldon," the shorter man with the glasses said to the tall, thin man without looking up. "You're bothering the other customers."

Sheldon's head snapped up from the row of comics he was perusing and replied emphatically, "Me? I'm not saying anything." He looked around and said, "It's coming from that blonde woman over there." He looked back down to the comics before him and said, "Frankly, Leonard, I don't find what she's doing bothersome at all."

"Gee, I wonder why?" Leonard replied sarcastically.

Jen and her daughter wandered over to where Sarah stood looking through the Brian Vaughn graphic novels and saw the frustrated look on her face. She huffed and said, "Chuck already has all of these. I guess I'm going to have to find something else for him to read." The other two were as clueless as she and simply shrugged.

Sarah blew her bangs out of her eyes and harrumphed. "What else does Chuck like to read?" she wondered aloud. Then she remembered the stop they made when they were on the run in Europe. _Chuck had to stop and pick up the newest comic book for…oh, what was it?_ She wished she had paid more attention but at the time she had…other things on her mind. Her mind wandered a bit and a small smile crept across her face as her eyes lost focus. That time on the train was…mmmm. She jumped a little when she heard Jen clear her throat and blushed when she saw the amused look on her friend's face. "Sorry."

Sarah turned to Jen and her daughter and said, "Chuck and I were…ah…traveling in Europe," Jen rolled her eyes knowing there was more to the story. There was always more to the story with Sarah. "And we were at the Montparnasse train station waiting to board our train to Zurich."

She paused and smiled at the memory of the thrill of finally being with Chuck for real and forever. Shaking her head a little, she continued, "I had gone into one of the shops to pick up a couple bottles of water for us to drink while we waited for our train. Chuck found a magazine stand and bought a comic book. I remember him saying something about it being a 'DC Comic' that he wanted to get."

She stopped and closed her eyes, trying to picture the front of the comic book in her mind. "All I can remember is a little goblin looking guy on the back and some legs in green tights in the upper left hand corner of the cover."

"I'm sorry," the taller man apparently named Sheldon said as he moved around the table toward them. "I couldn't help but overhear. Perhaps I can help."

"Sheldon!" Leonard hissed. "Don't bother them!"

"No, it's okay. Really," Sarah replied to Leonard. "I would love it if he can help."

Sheldon shot Leonard a smug look and then turned back to Sarah. "I believe you are thinking of Justice League of America." Very pleased with himself he said with hint of smile, "Those of us who are fans simply call it 'JLA.'"

Sarah's eyes lit up with recognition. "Yes! That's it! He said he wanted to get the most recent JLA."

"Of course," Sheldon answered as if it was obvious. "Let me see," he crossed one arm across his chest, rested the elbow of his other arm and put a finger against the side of his face. "You were in Europe in April of 2010. Am I correct?" His voice was filled with certainty and a more than a little smugness.

Sarah narrowed her eyes warily. _How could he know that?_

Leonard had been watching the exchange and saw the concerned look appear on Sarah's face. He rushed over and said, "Don't worry. He's not a stalker or anything. He's kind of a savant when it comes to comics." He waited a beat and then added, "Well, and everything else."

Sarah seemed to relax a bit. Sheldon nodded and said, "You see, I have memorized all of the JLA covers along with their corresponding publication dates and issue numbers. Based on your description of the cover, I believe the issue you saw was number 44, which also had the words, 'Brightest Day' at the top." He turned suddenly, stalked over to the Justice League section and quickly fingered through the comics. His fingers stopped and pulled out a comic. Flashing at her, he said triumphantly, "Ah! Here it is. This is the one you saw."

Sarah's face registered shock and surprise. "Yes, that's the one!" she cried happily.

"Well, of course it is," Sheldon huffed, as if he being wrong was the silliest idea in the world.

"So, I guess you're still with this guy?" Leonard asked slowly hoping the answer was no. He pinched his fingers together and twisted them against each other nervously. He did not hear the answer he was hoping for.

"Yes," Sarah answered blissfully. "As a matter of fact, I married him."

Leonard shoulders slumped slightly.

"Well, congratulations to you for finding a man with such exquisite taste in comics. You must be very proud," Sheldon said with a sincere grin.

Sarah suppressed the giggle that threatened to bubble over and bit down the retort of, _Yes, a man's taste in comic books is what's important to me._ She knew he was being sincere so she instead smiled at him and said truthfully, "Thank you. I _am_ very proud of him. We're very happy."

Leonard's shoulders slumped lower and he turned dejectedly and shuffled back toward his previous spot at the comics table.

Jen smirked when she heard the Indian man tease Leonard by saying, "Shot down by a blonde again. Stick with brunettes, Leonard."

"Shut up, Raj," Leonard shot back.

"Yeah, tough break buddy," the one in all red said. Then he snorted and said, "As if you had a chance with her even if she wasn't married."

"Thanks for the support, _Howard_," Leonard said, his word dripping with sarcasm. "It's overwhelming."

Back at the other table, Sarah had informed Sheldon that she and Chuck had been extremely busy in the last few months and so Chuck had not had a chance to buy any new comics in quite awhile. Apparently there were fifteen new Justice League issues for her to buy for Chuck. She felt like she had struck the mother lode in a nerd gold mine.

While Sheldon happily assisted Sarah in finding all of the new issues she needed, Jen and her daughter wandered around the store again.

"Sarah, do you still want to try to find some things to read when you go to Grandma and Grandpa's in a couple of days?"

She shrugged and replied, "I'd like to, but I have no idea what I might like to read."

Howard overheard that and snickered at Raj, "Hey, Raj. Maybe you can help her. Go talk to her."

Raj's eyes nearly popped out of his head and face showed abject terror. He silently shook his head rapidly and rather violently. He looked over at the teenager who glanced at him curiously.

Sarah and her mom continued to scan the racks until one caught her eye. Sarah took it off the rack and turned to the first page. A smile crept across her face as she started to read it. "I've actually heard of this one," she said to her mom. "It's the 'Black Widow.' She's some kind of superspy and was played by Scarlett Johansen in _Ironman 2_." She thumbed through the rest of the magazine and nodded her head. "I like spy stories. Can I get it?" she asked.

"Sure, sweetie. Spies _are_ cool, aren't they? Why don't you get as many as you can? You won't be able to start at the beginning, but maybe as you start reading them, you can eventually figure out what's going on." They were able to track down several collections of "Black Widow" and when they were both satisfied that they had found something to entertain her on her trip, they walked back to Sarah, who seemed to be trapped in a conversation with Sheldon.

"…and so evil Wil Wheaton lied to me and told me his mee-maw died." He paused for a moment and then finished dramatically, "I opened my soul to him and he crushed it. How apt a name, Wesley Crusher," he seemed to say to no one in particular.

Jen needed no invitation to come to her friend's rescue so she swooped in and said, "Hey, Aunt Sarah, look at the time! We really need to get going."

Sarah looked down at her watch and feigned shock and she replied, "Yes, look at that! It's much later than I realized. We do need to get going."

Sheldon's eyes narrowed. He looked at Jen, pointed to Sarah and asked, "Is she your aunt? Is she the sister of one of your parents? You are clearly older than her. The nomenclature of 'aunt' is usually given to the older person, not the younger."

Jen scowled, but then her face softened. _He's right. Who am I kidding? _"She's my younger sister and my daughter's aunt," she said, pointing to Sarah. "Can't you see the family resemblance," she said, barely keeping the laughter from her voice.

Sheldon was now utterly confused. "But I heard you call your daughter Sarah."

"That's right, I did."

"Don't you find that to be confusing?"

"No, not when we all call my sister 'Aunt Sarah.'"

"But she's not your aunt. You are using a familiarity that does not apply. When you are with both your daughter and your sister, you should call her Sister Sarah."

"Yes, but then she sounds like a nun with two mules. Besides, she just got married. She's no nun."

Sarah blushed, nudged her friend and said sarcastically, "Thanks for that, _Sis_."

Jen grinned, enjoying the game of messing with Sheldon's head. "What about my daughter? Should I call her 'Daughter Sarah' when I'm together with both of them?" An evil grin crossed her face as she said innocently, "Isn't that was Einstein's Theory of Relativity is all about? What to call our family members?"

Sheldon convulsed and his face grew beet red. "No!" he shouted, "That is not what Einstein's Theory is all about! It's about…"

He was interrupted when Jen laughed and shouted, "Bazinga!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The three ladies purchased their comics and left the store, much to the disappointment of the young men who were still there. Sheldon had actually laughed when he realized he was being teased by Jen and informed her that she was very "droll." Whether or not they would return to the comic book store was another question. They had overheard that Wednesday night was comic book store night for the four young men, so they decided if they ever did come back, they might come on a Tuesday.

Over the course of the evening, the two Sarah's had become fast friends and had even exchanged cell phone numbers. Sarah had even asked her "niece" if it was okay if she texted her when she was visiting her grandparents. She was touched and gratified when she saw a huge smile explode on the teenager's face.

Sarah dropped the Hatch girls off at their house and then drove straight home. She opened the front door and expected to see Chuck sitting on the couch, watching TV. Instead she was surprised to find that although the lights in the apartment were on, the TV was off and the couch was empty. Chuck's Herder was parked at the back of the apartment building, so she assumed he was home. Stepping over the threshold, she quietly closed the door and set down her purse on the coffee table. She kicked off her shoes, picked them up and silently padded across the room and down the hall toward their bedroom.

The moonlight filtered through the curtains and fell across the face of her sleeping husband. He was lying on his back, his eyes closed and his breathing slow and steady. _What time was it? How late was I out?_ She was surprised when she glanced at the clock on the nightstand and saw that it read 9:45 pm.

_Was he sick?_ Her stomach flipped at the thought. She tiptoed into the room and gently placed her hand on his forehead. A sigh of relief slipped through her lips when she found it cool to her touch. Softly, she slid her hand from his forehead and let it rest for a moment on the side of his face, watching his peaceful face as he slept. She sat down lightly on the side of the bed next to his sleeping form. He was so out of it, the dip in the bed when she sat didn't cause him to stir at all.

She gazed at him and thought back over the last couple of weeks. Thinking about everything he'd been doing, she realized that he had to be absolutely and utterly exhausted. In addition to working his regular shifts at the Buy More, he had been putting in crazy hours trying to get Castle outfitted and re-building his father's laptop computer. He also was dealing with the loss of the Intersect and being newly married. _No wonder he's completely worn out._ She hoped things would slow down a little for them once the Intersect was out of Morgan's head.

Her hand remained on the side of his face, her thumb lightly tracing his lips. He could never fully understand how grateful she was to him for what he had done for her, the gift he was to her. She vowed to show him every day. Leaning forward, she kissed him gently on the lips, whispered "I love you" and then stole out of the room to turn off the lights in the apartment.

A moment later she was back in their room where she slipped out of her clothes, threw on her tank top and boy shorts and crawled into the bed next to him. Not wanting to wake him, she refrained from putting her head on his shoulder the way she usually did when they fell asleep together. She still craved a connection to him, though, so she softly rested her hand on his arm. Even in his sleep state, he seemed to know she was there and rolled onto his side, draping his arm over her. She smiled and flipped onto her side, slid back until she felt him against her back and held his arm in hers, like a child clutching a teddy bear. Safely in his arms, she fell asleep and dreamed that she was the mother of a teenage girl with long blonde hair and a braces filled smile. And it didn't scare her at all.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**A/N 2**: The "Spidermun" dialog at the beginning of the chapter comes directly from an episode of _Friends_. I can't and won't take any credit for the fantastic words written by Adam Chase, the writer of "The One with the Tiny T-Shirt."

Next time on _Return of the Ninja Librarian_:

She took a deep breath, trying to calm the elephants jumping on trampolines in her stomach.


	12. Chapter 12 The Sublime to the Ridiculous

**A/N**: I would like to give a thank you to **Michael66** for reading through this chapter. He wanted me to give you a warning, though. This chapter truly goes from the sublime to the ridiculous. He used the words, "Warning! Lark's Vomit." So there you go, Michael. The readers have been duly warned.

Don't own Chuck, etc. Oh, and please review.

**Chapter 12 – From the Sublime to the Ridiculous**

The time for their trip to DC had finally arrived. They were leaving mid-morning on Saturday as Special Agent David had generously agreed to meet with Jen and Casey on Sunday, her day off, as long as her team was not on a case. Naval personnel seemed to die on a surprisingly regular basis in the DC area and Jethro's team was never sure when they would be called to the next case.

There had been a flurry of activity in the days leading up the trip to DC and everyone was busy with last minute projects. Chuck and Morgan were busy maintaining Chuck's cover at the Buy More and preparing for the multiple day "install" Chuck would be doing in an attempt to explain why he would be gone. It turned out to be a moot point since most employees assumed that he and his new wife were taking off for a fun getaway. If any of them were married to a woman like Sarah, they would never want to go to work either.

Jen had been busy helping her daughter pack and get ready to fly up north to visit with her grandparents for a couple of weeks. Sarah had just left the day before. It was now time for Jen to get her things together and get ready for the trip.

Casey spent Friday morning in Castle's armory preparing the gear for the mission. He packed comms, bugs, cameras, night vision goggles, electronic surveillance equipment and anything else he could fit into the cases.

Casey had packed up a few weapons as well. His ability to easily procure any weapon he wanted was greatly scaled back now that he no longer worked for the government. He would never, however, purchase illegal firearms. So he was careful not to purchase too many weapons at a time what with all the federal and state regulations in place. He certainly didn't want to send up any red flags. He was also grateful to his former military buddies who were willing to sell him a firearm or two. Jen had also volunteered to purchase some of the weapons so Casey wouldn't have too many registered in his name.

Casey was loading boxes of ammunition into a duffel bag when Morgan wandered in.

"Hey, John. Getting ready for our big mission to CIA headquarters?"

"Yeah, about that, Morgan." Casey glanced at Morgan and then back to stuffing tranq darts into the bag. "You aren't going," he said bluntly.

Morgan literally reeled backward. He held the edge of the table to steady himself. "What?" he cried.

"Oh, keep your pants on, Nancy. It's nothing personal. You just don't need to go."

"But why?" he whined. "I'm the Intersect. You might need me to flash."

Casey rolled his eyes and grunted. "Morgan, we both know you're worthless as the Intersect. You flash on squirrels and fish. And when you do flash, you can't remember what you saw."

Morgan's bearded face was crestfallen as he stared down at the table. "Yeah, you're right." He brightened. "Maybe I can help Jen in CIA headquarters."

"No, I'm going into CIA headquarters with Jen. And I'll be in disguise. We can't risk the CIA finding out you're the Intersect. You need to be kept far away from DC."

Morgan nodded with understanding, although he wasn't particularly happy about it.

"Besides, Chuck and Sarah need you to stay here and keep an eye on the Buy More. You are the manager and with the rest of us gone, the insurgents might try something."

"What about Jen's positive reinforcement?"

Casey scowled. "It works on some but not on others. Lester is leading a rebellion against her." His eyes flashed. He lowered his voice and said, "You don't need to worry, though. Jen and I will handle it."

Morgan sighed and his shoulders slumped in resignation. "Okay. You're right. I'll stay here."

Casey couldn't believe he was going to say this, but he begrudgingly added, "And you can keep an eye on Alex for me, too, while I'm gone."

Morgan grinned and replied happily, "Now that, sir, I can do."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sarah had gone from one place to another, running errands in connection with a personal project she was working on. Jen had started her out on this project with some research and advice, but Sarah was the one who had to do all the legwork. The last thing she was waiting for had just come in the mail the day before, so now her project was complete, save one last thing.

She had already found a gift box for the Justice League of America comic books she had bought for Chuck the other night. She planned on giving them to him as a gift just before they left for their trip. Otherwise, she knew he would have them completely read before they ever left the apartment. Slipping the other items in the box underneath the comics, she put the lid on and tied the box with a red bow. She had just placed it on their bed when Chuck wandered into the room.

"Hey, beautiful," he smiled at her. "How's the packing going?"

"Well, you know me. I'm always packed and ready to go. That whole 'spies never know when they might have to go on a mission' thing, remember?"

"Oh, yes, I remember," he replied. His eyes swept the room, and then fell upon the box on the bed.

He frowned a little and said, "What's this?" His face went a little pale and said, "Did I miss a special day? Wait! Is this some kind of anniversary or something I…" Her eye's twinkled as he babbled on. She finally put him out of his misery in the only way she could. She crossed the room, cupped his face in her hand kissed him.

"No, Chuck. This is something I got for you before we leave for our trip to DC." She sat down on the end of the bed, her right leg folded in front of her and her left foot resting on the floor. She tugged at his hand, pulling him to sit down across from her, mirroring her. Reaching over, she moved the present so that it sat between them. She looked into his eyes and with more than a hint of anticipation said, "Open it."

A huge grin erupted on his face. "Okay. If you insist." He schooled his features and said in a mock serious tone as he untied the ribbon, "It's not like I'm excited about this or anything."

"Uh huh."

Her heart was pounding and she watched his face for his reaction as his hands grabbed the lid of the box and pulled it off. His breath caught in his throat when he saw the large stack of Justice League of America comic books sitting in the box. "Sarah, what did you… How did you…" he began as he took the comics reverently out of the box and shuffled through them, glancing at each cover.

She smiled happily and was greatly relieved when she saw his overwhelmingly positive reaction. She shrugged one shoulder and replied, "We've been so busy you haven't had a chance to get any new comics in a long time. I thought you might like something new to read on the plane. I'll be busy flying the plane, so I thought this might be a fun way to help you pass the time."

"How did you know I like Justice League?" Before she could answer, it came to him. "Paris."

A shy nod let him know he was right.

He was about to move in to give her a hug when he glanced down in the box and noticed there were some other things laying there that had been placed under the comics.

Her heart beat even faster and she felt a flutter in her middle when she saw his brows furrow with confusion. He laid down the comic books on the bed, reached into the box and lifted out a pile of identification documents. Looking at each one in turn, bewilderment was written all over his face. "Sarah, I don't understand. These are your IDs." He shuffled through them again and saw her driver's license, passport, Social Security card, pilot's license and even a couple of credit cards all with the name "Sarah Walker."

"Why are these here? Don't you need them?"

She took a deep breath, trying to calm the elephants jumping on trampolines in her stomach. "Chuck, when I came to Burbank, to me Sarah Walker was nothing but a cover name in a long line of cover names. It meant nothing to me. But then I met you and Sarah Walker became more than just a cover name. Because of you, I became Sarah Walker for real, and the name Sarah Walker became more real to me than my given name ever was. But even then Sarah Walker was never my real name. Not really. Chuck, I want to give you Sarah Walker. Whenever you look at these old IDs, please know that I'm forever grateful for what you've done for me."

"Sarah, I…" he choked and then closed his mouth, completely speechless.

The look on his face nearly undid her. She had to glance up at the ceiling and blink at the tears a couple of times before she could continue. She placed a hand softly on his arm and said with a wobbly smile, "Now, for the first time since I was a very young, I have a real, honest to goodness, legal name of my own. Not one someone made up for me, by my con man father or the CIA. It's who I really am. I hope you don't mind."

She reached over to her purse and pulled it up next to her. Placing a hand down inside, she took out an identical stack of IDs and dropped them in her lap. She picked up her passport, opened it and held it up for him to see.

She watched his face. The breath caught in her throat when she saw his eyes shining with emotion when he read the name on the passport: Sarah Lisa Bartowski.

"Mind?" he whispered. "Sarah, I'm just so proud that I'm married to you and that you would want to take my name." He shook his head in disbelief. "You did all this?" he asked, pointing to the IDs.

"Mm-hmm. Well, I had a bit of a head start with some help from Jen. She has a friend who works at the country clerk's office, so I was able to get a certified copy of our marriage certificate faster than usual."

Chuck's face cleared with understanding. "That was the research she was helping you with."

She nodded and smiled.

Without a word, his eyes still brimming with tears, he leaned forward and kissed her tenderly. The love and devotion she felt in his kiss filled her with so much emotion she couldn't keep the tears from spilling from her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. She pulled back and saw tears running down Chuck's face as well. She wiped the tears from his cheeks with her thumbs as he kissed hers away.

With their foreheads touching and eyes locked, he whispered, "I love you, Sarah Lisa Bartowski."

"I love you, too, Charles Irving Bartowski."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was Friday night and Lester Patel was dressed to kill. He wore his sexiest white dress shirt unbuttoned all the way down to just above the belly button. He knew that drove the ladies wild. The sleeves of his jacket were rolled up to his elbows. He'd been rocking that look for years now and it hadn't failed him yet. Well, it hadn't failed because he hadn't actually spent time enough with a woman to actually be rejected, but that was beside the point. The air around him fairly shimmered as the aroma of his "Chuck Norris: Delta Force" cologne wafted off his person.

Lester clutched the perfume infused paper in his hand. He couldn't believe his luck. He had received an anonymous invitation to meet with a mysterious woman in the Home Theater Room at the Buy More that very night at 10 pm. He was feeling pretty good about himself as he fairly oozed across the main sales floor toward the back of the store. In the dim light of the store, he bumped into a display at the side of the main aisle. The sunglasses should have really been taken off, but he couldn't bring himself to do it since they completed the whole ensemble. He extricated himself from the display and continued to strut toward the back of the store.

Yup, it had been just a matter of time before the women of the Buy More could no longer resist his Hinjew charms. He really should have seen it coming with his animal magnetism and leadership skills as the instigator of the "Prairie Dog Rebellion" against that harpy, Jen Hatch. Even thinking about her made him frown, but he consciously stopped it as he knew frowns caused wrinkles. He had to keep his moneymaker as smooth as a baby's butt.

_Poor Jeffrey_. Lester had to leave him alone tonight, although Jeff seemed to have taken to being left to his own devices surprisingly well. _Dear sweet Jefferson, always hiding the pain_. Jeff had assured Lester that the gift certificate for free drinks at Bennigan's he randomly found on the floor of the Buy More would help him ease his pain during this difficult time. Lester was sure that the discussion he had seen Jeff have with Jen had nothing to do with that gift certificate. He also wondered why Jeff was now less enthusiastic about the "Prairie Dog Rebellion" as he had once been.

That was a problem for another time. Now was his time. He licked his pinkies and smoothed out his eyebrows. A flip of his bangs and he was ready. He reached the door to the room and stopped, suddenly extremely nervous. What if she was one of the less attractive Buy More women? He smiled to himself. _Even they deserved a good time once in awhile. I'll just turn on the Lester charm_, he thought benevolently.

With his confidence returned, he turned the doorknob and slowly opened the door. The room was lit by two solitary candles, giving the room a warm glow. In front of the brand new large, 3-D flat screen sat a solitary leather La-Z-Boy recliner.

From the shadows, a woman's voice called to him quietly, "Hello, Lester. Come in and sit down. I'm glad you could come tonight." The voice waited a beat and then added, "I've been waiting for you."

Lester's legs nearly gave out from under him and he suddenly notice that the room was really warm. Sweat trickled down his back and he moved into the center of the room. The chair did look enticing, so he cautiously moved toward it and sat down.

"Are you comfortable, Lester?" the voice asked.

"I-, buh-, wap-, uh-," was all he could say.

The voice giggled. "Oh, Lester," it teased. "You're so eloquent."

The room remained silent for another moment when the voice finally spoke. "You're probably wondering who I am."

Lester swallowed hard and only nodded his head.

"Would you like to see me?"

The head nod was even more vigorous than before.

"Okay, Lester," the voice said as Jen stepped out of the shadows and into the candlelight.

Lester saw Jen standing before him and his jaw dropped. He was thoroughly and completely confused. _Was her anger at him just a way to flirt with him?_ He smiled. _That had to be it. Her anger was a way for her to deal with the sexual tension between them._ "Well, you finally succumbed to the Lester charm. I can't say as I blame you." A smug, self-satisfied smirk broke out on his face. _They all fall to Lester's charms eventually_.

Lester's head snapped to the right when he suddenly heard the door to the room click closed and then lock. His eyes grew to the size of Frisbees when he saw John Casey standing in front of the door, his arms folded across his broad chest. His face was stoic except for one corner of his mouth that quirked up just a hint. The candlelight gleamed in his eyes.

"Um," Lester said tremulously, "I'm flattered but I don't really want to do this kind of…"

Casey literally gagged and had to swallow down the bile that rose and burned his throat. "Ugh, Moron," Casey scowled and then laughed derisively. "I'd rather have a white hot poker shoved up my…"

"John," Jen said quietly. "I think we get the picture," giving him a wink.

She moved so that she stood directly in front of Lester, still sitting in the recliner. "Lester, you've worked very hard to make my time at the Buy More miserable. You're petulant, self-centered and ill-mannered. If you put the kind of effort into actual work that you put into making other people's lives wretched, you would be a star employee."

Jen stopped for a moment, waiting to see if any of this was sinking in. The scowl on his face indicated it did not. "I've given you plenty of warnings. I had hoped I could somehow give you some positive reinforcement. But Lester, it's hard to do that when you never do anything nice for anyone." She was on a roll as she continued, "You have vexed me at every turn." Her face hardened as she leaned forward, her eyes boring into his through his cheap sunglasses. "No more warnings, Lester. No more chances. No more threats. Your 'Prairie Dog Rebellion' was the last straw."

Lester paled and crossed his legs lest he soil himself. "You promised you wouldn't kill me," he squeaked.

"That's true. I would never kill you Lester. Remember my words were, 'You'll just wish you were dead.'"

"You lay a finger on me and I'll call the police!" he cried.

"Calm down, you idiot," Casey said, rolling his eyes. "You're such a drama queen," he growled. "We aren't going to touch you. Relax," he huffed.

"Then what are you going to do to me?" Lester whined.

"We just want you to watch a little something on the monitor." She gave Casey one quick nod. He picked up the remotes, turned on the flat screen and fired up the 3-D Blu-ray player. Jen had moved away from Lester and Casey stood where she had been only a moment before. Casey reached out, took Lester's sunglasses off his face, painstakingly folded them and laid them off to the side. Out of his jacket pocket came a pair of 3-D glasses which he placed on Lester's face.

"All cued up, John?"

"Ready."

"Alrighty then. Engage."

Casey hit the play button. The pop music started and the image of a 16-year-old boy with a helmet of swooping blond hair filled the screen. The boy wore a white jacket with a purple hoodie underneath it. His prepubescent voice blared from the surround sound speakers.

Lester involuntarily convulsed and his hands gripped the arms of the chairs. He eyes glanced wildly around the room searching for an escape route, but there was none. He released his grip from the chair and pressed his hands against his ears, trying to block out the sound. Nothing helped.

"That's right, Lester," Jen said. "For the next hour and 45 minutes, you'll be watching Justin Bieber. Concert footage from Madison Square Garden." She slowly circled around him, her hands clasped behind her as the movie _Justin Bieber: Never Say Never_ played on the screen. "Justin as a small, musically gifted child. Justin, singing his little heart out on the streets."

Casey, never wanting to be left out of the fun, continued, "Justin, singing such sickeningly sweet pop songs you'll get cavities just listening to them. Celebrities talking about how truly awesome Justin Bieber is. Justin imploring us to Never. Give. Up. On. Our. Dreams." Casey punctuated each word with so much mock sincerity, Jen couldn't stifle the giggle.

Lester sagged back into the recliner, defeated. He looked like a rag doll tossed onto the chair. His whole body was slack, save the occasional twitch from his hand or leg. His eyes were open, unfocused and unblinking as he watched the screen from behind his 3-D glasses.

Satisfied that Lester was not going to make a run for it, Jen and Casey sat on opposite ends of the couch behind Lester and faced each other. They pulled out their earplugs and shoved them in their ears as far as they would safely go. Casey only liked music from the 20th century and Jen had heard Bieber so many times driving car pool, she was one chorus of "U Smile" from insanity.

Casey reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a deck of cards, shuffled them and dealt them out. For the next hour and 45 minutes, Lester watched Justin Bieber while Jen and Casey played multiple hands of gin. They were evenly matched and Casey won only two more games than Jen. As the credits rolled and the movie ended, they promised to continue their grudge match on the plane to DC the next day.

Casey picked up the remotes, turned off the Blu-ray player and screen. Lester had scarcely moved during his nearly two hours of sitting in the La-Z-Boy. Casey and Jen glanced at each other, wondering if Lester had slipped into a permanent catatonic state. Jen carefully removed the 3-D glasses from Lester's tear-stained face. She knelt down in front of him and looked into his vacant, unfocused eyes.

"Lester?" she said quietly. _Oh boy._

The sound of her voice pulled him back. "Justin's right," he wept. "I do need to follow my dreams." He looked at Jen and said, "I'm not going to undermine you anymore." Then, as if he were looking off to the stars he emoted with tears streaming down his face, "I'm going to put all my energy into becoming a better person. Someone just like Justin Bieber. He's a fellow Canadian, too, you know," Lester announced proudly.

Lester stood up and swiped one arm across his eyes and then the other arm across his nose. Next, he took Jen's hand and shook it vigorously. "Thank you," he said with a huge smile on his face. He turned to Casey and shook his hand, saying, "Thank you. You both have changed my life." Lester picked up his sunglasses, stood tall and marched out of the room singing, "Baby."

Casey couldn't keep the shock from his face. "That worked better than I expected."

Jen's face wore a shocked expression as well. She shrugged and said, "I hope it lasts for awhile." She let an evil grin cross her face when she added, "If we're lucky, by the time this wears off, _Glee 3-D_ will be out on Blu-ray."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next morning, as Chuck, Sarah, Jen and Casey were loading the plane in preparation for their flight to DC, Chuck received a text and photo from Morgan. He stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the picture for a long time before he finally spoke. "Um, guys? What happened to Lester?"

Sarah crooked one eyebrow when she noticed the look that passed between Jen and Casey.

"Lester?" Jen asked innocently. Chuck held out his phone so they all could see the picture. Casey actually guffawed and Jen covered her mouth with her hand as the laugh escaped. The photo showed Lester sporting new haircut. A Justin Bieber swoopy-do haircut. He was a Canadian-Indian Justin Bieber.

"It looks good on him. That kind of cut works for someone with delicate features," Jen said as seriously as she could. "My mom had a 'do like that in the '70's." She couldn't hold it in anymore and the giggles took over.

"What did you do?" Sarah asked, not really worried about Lester. She really just wanted to know what happened.

"Oh, well, Jen, Lester and I got together and watched a movie last night," Casey said casually. Both Chuck and Sarah's eyebrows shot up at the odd movie night of Casey, Jen and Lester. "It was apparently life changing for him. Let's just say that Lester won't be a problem for Morgan, or anyone for that matter, for awhile," Casey replied.

The four looked at each other and shrugged. "I'm okay with that," Chuck said with a laugh. The laughter indicated that everyone else was okay with it, too.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**A/N**: For the record, I don't hate Justin Bieber. I really don't have an opinion about him one way or the other. If you have Bieber Fever, please don't be offended. I chose him to be the target because of the way Lester would react to him. Lester always wants to be the cool, avant garde guy that rejects everything mainstream (e.g. the crazed video he did for Chuck and Sarah's rehearsal dinner). Ah, but in the end, even Lester succumbed to Bieber Fever.

You will note that Jeff got a pass from Jen and Casey's "torture." Jeff gained a lot of points in my book with the wonderful video he put together for the rehearsal dinner. As a result, he has received favorable treatment from me.


	13. Chapter 13 CIA, NSA, NCIS in DC

**A/N**: Thank you to all who continue to follow along with this story as it meanders along and for the wonderful reviews, as always. They are greatly appreciated and I hope you all will continue to let me know what you think about this little story.

I would like to thank **atcDave** (he of **ChuckThisBlog**, check it out) and **Doc in Oz** for their assistance, input and gentle corrections regarding the flying elements of this chapter. Without their guidance, well, let's just say it would have been bad. Also, thank you to **Michael66** for reading over this chapter and finding and correcting my mistakes.

Insert standard disclaimer here.

**Chapter 13 - CIA, NSA, NCIS in DC  
><strong>

The sky was a spectacular blue as the Gulfstream streaked through the air at 35,000 feet. Chuck, Sarah, Jen and Casey had been in the air about two hours and were currently flying over the southern Rocky Mountains. They had already flown over Barstow and the Grand Canyon on their approximately four and a half hour flight to Washington Dulles airport.

Casey was her co-pilot and stayed in the cockpit with her for about the first hour. He got a little bored when the autopilot was engaged at 12,000 feet, so Sarah allowed him to leave the cockpit and hang out with Chuck and Jen for awhile.

They were flying over Kansas when Sarah needed Casey to relieve her as a trip to the lav was in order.

Listening to the chatter in the cabin she heard Jen shout, "Ha! Gin! Sucker!" and the sound of cards being emphatically slapped on the table. "Now I'm only down by three games. Watch out 'cause I'm coming for you," she taunted.

Casey grunted good-naturedly, "In your dreams, Hatch. Shuffle up and deal." He crooked an eyebrow and goaded, "If you dare."

"Oh, it's on, John Casey," she whispered dangerously as she shuffled the cards.

"Hey, Casey!" Sarah called. "Before you start your next grudge game, can you relieve me for awhile? I need to stretch and go use the lav."

"You're lucky, Hatch. You were going down!" Casey growled.

"Don't worry. I'll be here when you get back," she smirked back at him.

He stood as tall as he could, which really meant he hunched over like an old man and made his way to the cockpit. He climbed down into his seat, put on his headset and checked the screens.

"Thanks, Casey. I'll be back in awhile."

"Roger that."

She went straight to the back of the plane and used the lav. In the meantime, Jen had opened her laptop and was furiously typing when Sarah returned.

Chuck looked extremely comfortable stretched out on the divan, with his head resting on one armrest and his shoes off and feet up on the other. He was lost in a "Justice League" comic book which he held just a few inches from his face.

Sarah grabbed the comic book from his hands and before he could object, gave him a kiss. She handed the comic back to him and tapped the outside of his thigh with her hand. He glanced up at her and she motioned with her hand to lift his legs up. He complied happily, raising his legs straight up in the air until she sat down at the far end of the divan. Gently lowering his legs across her lap, she rested her arms on his shins.

He bounced his eyebrows and said, "You know, Sarah, if you really want to, you could give me a foot massage." He shot her his best grin.

She smirked and said, "What, I have to give you a foot massage AND fly the plane? I don't think so. Besides, your feet are huge."

His eyebrows continued their workout as he replied in a husky voice, "You know what they say about men with big feet."

She blushed and gave his shin a playful slap. "No bragging, Chuck."

Casey heard this all the way in the cockpit and made a gagging sound like he had just licked the bottom of the Mystery Crisper.

Jen simply said, "TMI, Bartowskis. TMI."

Both Bartowskis blushed.

Deciding it was best to change the subject, Sarah asked quietly, "Chuck, how long did those two play gin?"

"They started up the minute Casey came back here from the flightdeck. I lost count of how many hands they played."

Sarah whispered, "She didn't seem intimidated by Casey at all."

Chuck snickered and replied, "She shouldn't be. Did you know she has five older brothers?"

"Five! Well," Sarah said with a giggle, "that explains A LOT!"

"Also, Jen was pumping him full of Rambaldi information just in case he gets asked about it when they go to Langley."

"Oh, I bet he was thrilled about that," Sarah said sarcastically.

Chuck nodded and said, "Yeah, I think she got the hint. She stopped after awhile."

Jen looked up and said, "Hey, Sarah. How's it going up in the cockpit?"

She beamed. "Great. This is a fabulous plane."

"What's our ETA?" Chuck asked.

Sarah peeked at her watch. "We just flew over St. Louis, so it should be about another two hours." Doing a quick calculation in her head, she added, "We should land about 6 pm local time."

Casey shouted from the cockpit, "Is anyone else hungry?"

A look of panic crossed Chuck's face and Sarah put her hand to her forehead. They had been so focused on everything else, they hadn't thought about food.

Before either of them could respond, Jen yelled back to Casey, "Okay, John. I got the hint. I'll make lunch." She slipped out of her chair and made her way to the galley in the aft of the cabin. "Are sandwiches okay for everyone?"

"I didn't know we had food," Sarah said, confused.

Jen nodded, "You told me about the galley, so I figured I would bring along some lunch stuff. I stocked it while the boys were busy with loading the equipment and you were doing the preflight inspection." She grabbed a loaf of bread from one of the cupboards and placed it on the counter. "I didn't think we would want to stop for fast food. Drive thrus can be such a bear at lunchtime," she deadpanned.

She opened one of the cold drawers and pulled out packages of deli meats. "Turkey, roast beef or ham?"

Jen set to work making sandwiches and Sarah assisted by setting out sodas and chips. She would eat now and then relieve Casey so he could come back and eat when she was done.

Sarah grinned when she saw the "Dagwood" Jen had prepared for Casey sitting in front of Casey's empty chair. It looked to her like Jen had made sandwiches for the three of them and then took everything that was left and put it into Casey's sandwich.

As they ate, Jen relayed the events of the evening before regarding Lester and the movie he had watched. As long as the outcome of their little "session" with Lester led to him being more compliant and easier to be around, they really didn't care how it happened.

Sarah finished her sandwich and returned to the cockpit to allow Casey to go eat. He admired his sandwich and gave Jen the ultimate compliment to her sandwich making abilities by eating it in record time. Lunch was soon over, everything was stowed away and every last crumb was "Dustbustered" from the floor and seats. Chuck went back to his comic books, Casey returned to the cockpit and Jen played Angry Birds on her iPad.

About an hour later, the passengers in the cabin felt nose of the plane dip slightly as Sarah decreased altitude in preparation for their landing at Dulles. The jet turned a couple of times as it lined up on final. Chuck and Jen watched out their windows as they glided closer and closer to the ground. They heard the pilot conferring with the tower and then felt a slight rumble under their feet as the landing gear lowered. The plane seemed to hover weightlessly over the concrete runway for a split second just before the back two wheels made contact with a short tire squeal. The nose dropped and the front wheel touched down as well. They braced themselves slightly, feeling the effects of the plane's deceleration.

Sarah communicated with ground control which directed her to the hangar she had rented for their time in Washington. The plane was then towed to where it would stay until their return flight. Sarah and Casey secured the cockpit, opened the hatch and lowered the stairs.

The four deplaned and were gratified to find that the black van they had rented to haul their equipment and use for the upcoming mission was parked just outside the hangar door. It was amazing how easy it was to put things in place when you had money.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Within an hour they had unloaded the plane and stashed the equipment in the van. Soon they were on the Dulles Toll Road heading east toward the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown. Casey drove the van with Jen riding shotgun. Chuck and Sarah sat side by side in the seats directly behind them.

Traffic wasn't too bad going into the city and they made it to the Four Seasons hotel in about thirty minutes. Casey pulled the van into the front driveway and parked. Sarah and Jen jumped out and stood to the side as Chuck and Casey oversaw the transfer of their luggage and equipment cases from the van to the carts that would convey their belongings to their rooms. As much as it would have been more convenient to leave the equipment in the van, they decided against it. Had anyone looked inside the cases, it would be difficult to explain why four civilians would possess weapons, tactical gear and surveillance equipment.

"I can't believe how much luggage these four people have," one of the bellboys muttered unhappily to his fellow worker as they unloaded another case onto a cart.

Sarah heard the comment and winced when she looked over and saw the look on Casey's face. It was clear he had heard the comment as well. Jen noticed the look on Casey's face, too, and whispered, "Uh-oh."

Casey drew to his full, intimidating height and looked down at the bellhop. He growled loud enough so that all the other bellboys, as well as the valets, could hear, "Is there a problem here," he leaned forward and put his face close to the young man's face, ostensibly to look at the bellhop's nametag, "Vincent?"

The bellhop, who now had Casey's face within a few inches of his own, turned pale and swayed a little. Chuck sprinted to Casey's side and reached out to touch Casey's arm in an effort to calm him down. At the last second, he remembered Casey's admonition to never, ever touch him. Being very fond of his hand and enjoying the full usage of it, Chuck quickly pulled it back and stuck it safely in his pocket. Instead, he simply said in a calm voice, "I'm sure you will take wonderful care of our luggage," and then a little louder so Vincent couldn't miss Chuck's tone, "won't you, Vincent."

Vincent, thankful for the intervention on his behalf by Chuck, nodded his head vigorously. Casey stood up straight, grunted and motioned with his head for the young man to get back to work. Vincent took no time getting away from Casey, sprinted back to the van and grabbed another case. The other bellboy worked as diligently as Vincent did.

Now that the crisis was averted, Sarah and Jen both relaxed and breathed sighs of relief. The rest of the cases were loaded quickly and they all moved through the lobby toward the front desk. Word spread quickly amongst the staff regarding the large man with the many bags. They quickly had their room keys and their belongings were deposited in their rooms in record time.

By now they were hungry and ready for dinner. Casey had had enough togetherness for one day. He decided to stay in his room and order room service. Staying in would also allow him to spend a nice, quiet evening with his weapons.

Jen decided that room service sounded like a good idea as well. She needed to check in with Mark and call Sarah at her grandparent's house. Staying in would also allow her to spend a nice, quiet evening watching mindless TV. Saturday night TV by definition was mindless.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chuck was having a difficult time as he attempted to button his right cuff with his left hand. It was a brand new dress shirt and the buttonhole was extremely tight. His head was bent over his hand in deep concentration as he fumbled with the button.

"Here, Chuck, let me help you with that," Sarah said as she left the bathroom and strode across the room toward him.

"Thanks, Sarah. I just can't…gah!" he exclaimed when he lifted his head and saw her. He wasn't prepared for the vision before him. She wore an emerald green dress that hugged every curve. It had a plunging neckline that showed off her…assets and the high heels she wore made her legs look like they went on forever. If he were a cartoon, his eyes would have been bugging out of their sockets and his heart would be literally sproinging out of his chest.

She smiled happily at his reaction. She winked and asked, "You like my dress?"

He nodded mutely, his eyes moving up and down her body, drinking her in. His forgotten hand with the unbuttoned cuff was still sticking out in front of him as he stood motionless. She smirked, stepped up next to him and buttoned the cuff. His eyes closed when the aroma of her perfume washed over him. Her nearness, her scent, the way she looked. He was dizzy.

She noticed the funny look on his face. "Chuck? Are you okay?" She still held his outstretched hand.

He opened his eyes focused on her. "Erm, yeah." He smiled weakly and said, "Sarah, you've got to give a guy some warning when you put on a dress like that. My ticker can't take it."

"Sorry." She wasn't sorry.

Coming to his senses, he moved his hands to her hips and pulled her close. He took a deep breath, filling himself with her fragrance. "You know that fancy hotel restaurant we were getting ready to go to?"

She pulled back a little and eyed him slyly. "Yes," she said slowly.

"I suddenly don't feel like going out," he said, moving in and nuzzling her neck.

"Chuuuuuck," she whimpered. She tried to be irritated with him, but found it impossible when he was doing that to her. "I'm all dressed up and…oh…I'm hungry…ah…and you…prommmmised...mmmmmmm."

As his mind became clearer, hers became more muddled.

"You were so hot flying our plane today," he murmured, leaving a trail of kisses down her neck and along her the topline of her shoulder. "With your headset on and those aviators…" He shivered.

"How come you…mmmm…didn't visit...ahhh, right there…me in the…Chuuuuuck…cockpit?"

"I knew…mmmhmm…I wouldn't be able to keep my hands off you…you like that don't you?…and that would not make for a…ah! Mrs. Bartowski!…safe flying environment."

"Then I guess…oooooo…we should make up…uuuuhhhhnnnggg…for that right now."

"Mmmmmhmmmm…"

Sometime later, they ordered room service.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was clear that the young couple sitting on the bench in the park outside the Naval Observatory were in love. The tall, lanky man sat with his arm around the beautiful blonde's shoulders. She snuggled into his side, resting a hand on his thigh. Their heads were bent close: talking, giggling, whispering, flirting.

It was clear that the couple directly across the grassy expanse also sitting on a park bench outside the Naval Observatory were not in love. They did sit on the same bench next to each other, although there was enough space between them to park a Shetland pony.

Casey, resplendent in his disguise as "Professor Peter Boyd" which included black rimmed glasses, a grey wig and mustache, resisted the urge to rip the earwig out, throw it on the ground and crush it under the heel of his wingtip.

"Come on, Bartowskis! Get a room!" Casey barked into his comm.

Chuck snorted, "We do have a room. You dragged us out of it this morning for this part of the mission, remember?" Both Jen and Casey could hear Sarah giggle into her comm.

"Ugh, Jen, they're killing me," he groaned.

"I know, John. I'm sorry. Let me try." She lowered her head a little and said quietly into her comm, "Um, guys? Casey's about to lose his complimentary continental breakfast over here. I really don't want to see his regurgitated prune Danish splashed on the sidewalk."

Both Chuck and Sarah groaned in disgust. Casey grunted with appreciation.

"I know that being a 'couple in love sitting together on a park bench' is part of your cover, but could you tone it down just a little? For Casey's sake?" _Not to mention my own._ Then she thought about Mark and smiled. She shook her head, trying to clear it. _Not now. Whew!_

The better angels of Sarah's nature took over and she replied, "Okay, Jen. We'll tone it down."

"Thanks."

Casey knew it was just a couple of minutes before Special Agent David was to meet them in the park, so his eyes scanned the area. "Heads up, people," he said. "Incoming."

Off to the right a young woman with long brown hair strode toward them. Both Jen and Casey stood as she approached them. She extended her hand and said with a hint of an accent, "Hello. I am Special Agent Ziva David. You must be Gibbs' cousin. He described you perfectly."

Jen smiled warmly and shook her hand. "Yes, I am. Thank you for agreeing to help us, Special Agent David."

The young woman returned her smile and said, "Please, call me Ziva."

"Okay, Ziva. You can call me Jen." Turning to Casey, Jen said, "This is my research partner, Professor Peter Boyd. He teaches history at the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople."

"Pleased to meet you, Ziva," he said. "Call me Peter."

Jen had to glance over her shoulder and make sure it was still Casey standing behind her, because when he spoke, he sounded giddy. Under the fake mustache, she could see that he had the goofiest look on his face she had ever seen. They had discussed his cover and he was supposed to be a serious academic, not a love sick schoolboy. Cupid had clearly shot him right in the butt.

The reason for Casey's temporary insanity was due to the fact that Ziva David was one of the most beautiful people either of them had ever seen. She had gorgeous brown eyes, delicate features and olive skin. It was clear she was fit and trim as her jeans, boots and a green form fitting top tastefully showed off her figure.

As Ziva, Jen and Casey sat down together on the bench, the young couple across the grassy knoll did not look as loving as they had ten minutes before. The beautiful blonde's face was twisted into a scowl and the tall, lanky man sitting next to her had a trail of sweat running down his back.

"I could take her," Sarah growled.

Chuck's arm remained around her stiffened shoulders. "Yes, my love. I'm sure you could," he murmured.

"She's not that hot," she continued.

Unfortunately for Chuck, he didn't agree with Sarah's pronouncement before she had finished saying it, earning him a withering stare from his wife. "No, she's not that hot. Not as hot as you, sweetie," he replied soothingly. Mollified, she relaxed a bit and listened in on the conversation across the way through her earwig.

"So, Ziva, how long have you been working with my cousin, Jethro?"

"I've been a special agent with the team for a year, now," she answered.

Sarah snorted and then mumbled, "She's only been doing this for a year."

"Before that, I worked with the team for five years as the special liaison officer to NCIS from Mossad." She leaned forward and whispered, "I used to be a spy."

Casey jerked just a little when he heard the word "Mossad." "Kick-ass," he whispered to himself, unable to keep the admiration from his voice.

Sarah grumbled something incoherent.

"Ah, I heard a hint of an accent, but couldn't quite place it. So you're Israeli then?" Jen asked.

Ziva shrugged and answered, "Well, actually, I became a U.S. citizen a little over a year ago."

"Congratulations! That's wonderful!" Jen exclaimed.

"Thank you. It was only when I became a citizen that I was able to join Gibbs' team as a full-fledged special agent."

"You must be very good at what you do," Jen said. "Jethro doesn't suffer fools."

Ziva chuckled, "No, he does not."

Casey sighed when he heard her little laugh.

"Oh, my god, Casey," Sarah groused. "What are you? Eight?"

Casey ignored the comment in his ear and continued to hang on every word Ziva uttered.

"We are a great team," Ziva finished, her voice full of pride.

Jen had managed to filter out the chatter in her ear and stay on task. "I'm sure you are."

"Yeah," Casey added eloquently.

This time, it was Chuck's turn to snort.

Sarah gave Chuck an approving glance and bumped her side into his. She relaxed further when he caught her look and kissed her temple.

Jen continued since Casey seemed completely and utterly tongue-tied. "Thank you for helping us get access to the artifacts we're studying. I hope it wasn't too much trouble for you and your friend."

Ziva shook her head and smiled, "No, it was not trouble at all. Ray is working outside the country right now, but was able to make a few phone calls." Her eyes danced when she added, "Let us just say he is highly motivated to help me."

Jen chuckled and nodded, knowingly.

Casey made an unhappy grunting noise.

Ziva reached into her bag and pulled out two folded pieces of paper. She handed them both to Jen and said, "These are the letters that will get you into the storage area to take a look at the artifacts. You can gain entrance anytime tomorrow and Tuesday. After that they expire. I hope that is enough time."

Jen took the papers, unfolded one and looked it over. It had her name, the location numbers of the artifacts and a signature of the agent in charge of the storage area at the bottom of the page. Opening and scanning the second letter, she saw that it contained the same information as the first, only that this letter was for issued for Peter Boyd.

"Oh, yes, that should be more than enough time, don't you think, Peter?" Jen asked, turning toward Casey.

He cleared his throat, his eyes never leaving Ziva's face. "Yes, that should be fine. Thank you for helping us." Before he could stop himself, he blurted, "Would you like to go lunch with us?"

"Oh, brother," Sarah groaned.

"Well, I," she started uncomfortably when her phone chirped. "Excuse me," she said as she removed her phone from her bag and read the text. Relief crossed her face when she said, "I am sorry, but Gibbs just texted me. Apparently there is a dead sailor at Norfolk and I need to go."

"Of course," Jen said, standing. She shook Ziva's hand again and said, "Thank you again for helping us. We appreciate it so much, don't we, Peter?"

Casey nodded mutely, watching the sun shine through Ziva's beautiful brown hair.

"And please be sure to say hello to Jethro for me. I'd hoped we could get together tonight for beer and steak, but with a recently dead sailor, I don't see that happening."

Ziva laughed. "Beer and steak. You are his cousin. I will have to tell Tony about you." She dipped her head slightly and said, "I will say hello for you and it was my pleasure to help you. Good luck with your research. I look forward to reading your book some day."

Jen grinned, "Thanks. We'll be sure to put you in the acknowledgements. And good luck with your new case."

"Thank you. Good-bye," she called as she turned and walked back the way she had come.

Casey heaved a sigh as he watched her go.

Jen finally allowed herself to roll her eyes at him. "That's better," she breathed happily. "I've been holding that eye roll at bay for the last fifteen minutes."

"What?" Casey said, defensively. "That was all part of my cover. I'm a hopeless nerd smitten with a woman way out of my league."

Sarah started to laugh and then turned it into a cough when she caught the hurt look on Chuck's face.

"Hey!" Chuck hollered at Casey. "I can hear you, you know." He paused and then added in mock injury, "And your words, they hurt on the inside."

"Don't worry, Chuck," Jen said as she folded the papers and put them in her purse. "I think Casey is full of crap and covering his butt after the fact," she added as she headed back to the van.

Casey stalked silently next to her. They had just reached the van when he grinned at Jen and said quietly, "She was smokin' hot, wasn't she?"

Jen chuckled and shook her head at him.

Her chuckle was echoed by the tall, lanky man and his beautiful blonde wife as they left the park bench and walked hand in hand back toward the van.


	14. Chapter 14 A Librarian in Langley

**A/N**: I want to preemptively apologize for the length of this A/N, but there are some things I need to let you know about.

First, thank you for patiently waiting for the return of this story. I got a _little_ distracted when writing _Chuck vs. the Sound of Music_, so this story had to go on the back burner. But now it's back!

Just a quick reminder of what's going on in this story: Chuck, Sarah, Casey and Jen are trying to get the hard drive from Orion's laptop stored at CIA headquarters in Langley. That's pretty much it. It took 13 chapters to get to this point? Yes. Yes it did.

Thank you my beta, **AgentInWaiting,** for his help on this chapter.

Also, the lovely and talented **Frea O'Scanlin** and I are up to something. We're going to write a Chucksical (a Chuckified musical), but we need your help. Please go to Frea's blog, **Castle Inanity**, and vote for the musical you want us to write (voting is open until December 15th). Why are we doing this? We're raising money on behalf of **Operation Smile**, a wonderful charity Zachary Levi supports. While you're at Castle Inanity, click on the "Donate" button and read more about our "Chuck Will Sing for A Smile-a-thon." From there you can get to our Operation Smile donation page. Through the awesomeness of _Chuck_ fans everywhere, we've already raised enough money for seven needy children to receive beautiful new smiles. Won't you help put a smile on a child's face?

Finally, I don't own Chuck, etc.

**Chapter 14 – A Librarian in Langley**

The heels of Jen's shoes clicked on cement as she and Casey strode purposefully down the sidewalk toward the main entrance of the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency. The sunshine and blue sky did nothing to ease her mind about what they were about to do. Stealing something from the CIA? That was insane. Sure, she had done some crazy things with Chuck, Sarah and the gang, like being the riding crop wielding enforcer at the Buy More or helping them take down Vivian Volkoff when hired as a manuscript expert. The first was just plain fun and the second was done under the auspices of the government. There was always the threat of bodily harm, but there were no real legal ramifications if something went haywire. Not this time. What they were about to attempt to do was not government sanctioned. If anything, it was the opposite of that. If something did go wrong, it could be very bad for them. _I think I might be insane_.

The nerves she battled left a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. She decided that the swirl of emotions she was experiencing only proved that she was _not_ actually insane. She peeked over at the large man striding next to her. His face shone with excitement and confidence under the fake mustache and glasses and his professionalism and experience made her feel a little better. It didn't keep the stress from overtaking her body, however as she fully expected the handle of her briefcase to sli p from her sweaty hand at any second. Trying to steady herself, she took a deep breath and blew it out slowly.

Apparently her stress signal was heard over her comm. Sarah said into her ear, "Jen, you're doing great. Chuck and I are watching your every step on the security feeds. Remember what we talked about. You're there to do research for a book."

"Right," she answered quietly. She shrugged her shoulders a couple of times in an attempt to loosen the muscles that had tightened.

"All right, you two in the van," Casey addressed Chuck and Sarah, "the only noises we should hear from either of you are ones related to the mission."

Casey's warning salvo caused Sarah to guiltily jump off her husband's lap and return to her own chair.

"Oh, come on Casey," Chuck said, laughing and winking at his wife. "I just put a 'If the van is rockin' don't come knockin'" bumper sticker on it!"

Jen couldn't help but guffaw at that.

"Shut it, Bartowski," Casey replied with a fierce growl, "and get your head in the game. Are you sure our comms won't be detected?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Chuck answered in a confident voice. It was a good thing the two walking toward the building didn't see the wide eyes and shrug he gave his wife after he made his pronouncement. Otherwise, they might have turned and high tailed it back to the van.

"You'd better be right, Bartowski, or once I get out of federal prison in fifteen years, I'm gonna find you and kick your ass," Casey responded in a low, threatening voice. "Walker will be so busy with your geek spawn, she won't be able to protect you."

Their banter distracted Jen, and helped push her churning thoughts, which also included the fear of going to federal prison, out of her head. Instead, she focused on being Jen Hatch, librarian slash researcher slash cover-author.

As the duo approached the entrance, they walked under an overhang and up some steps. Ever the gallant gentleman, Casey opened the door for her to step through first. The sound of her shoes echoed through the lobby as they walked across the white and gray marble CIA seal and headed toward a bank of elevators. Glancing around, Jen noticed the Memorial Wall off to the left. The stars on the wall honoring those who had given their lives for their country helped steel her resolve to see this mission through, no matter what obstacles they might encounter. She longed to go look at open pages of the Book of Honor encased in glass just below the stars, but the mission before them took precedence. _Maybe some other time_, she thought to herself.

Once they had passed through the lobby, they came to a security area. Obviously, this was as far as anyone without authorization could go. They stopped at a reception desk manned by three security agents.

"Just relax and tell them why you're there," Sarah instructed into Jen's comm.

Addressing the agent who stood from his chair thus making it clear they should speak with him, Jen said in her most professional voice, "Good morning. My name is Jen Hatch and this," pointing to Casey, "is my associate, Professor Peter Boyd. We have authorization to enter the storage area here and examine several artifacts in the Agency's collection." Reaching into her purse, she pulled out the papers she had received from Special Agent David the day before and handed them to the agent.

As he took the permits from her hand, all he said was, "Identification, please."

They each handed him their driver's licenses, hers from California and Casey's from North Dakota. Jen worked to keep her breathing steady as the agent reviewed their documents. The papers from Ziva and her driver's license were authentic, but Casey's ID was a phony as a three dollar bill. She swallowed hard when the agent seemed to look at Casey's license for longer than what seemed necessary. After what felt like an eternity, the agent nodded and returned the papers and identifications back to them.

"We don't get many people here from North Dakota," the agent said. "I had to go to South Dakota once to a facility where they store other artifacts." He shook his head. "There's some crazy stuff there." Picking up the phone on the desk, he punched a button and then spoke quietly. Nodding, he ended the conversation with, "Yes, I'll tell them." Looking back to Jen and Casey, he said, "Agent Abrams will be here momentarily to escort you to the storage area. In the meantime, I need to look through your bag and briefcases. Step right over here, please."

"Certainly, Agent..."

"Agent Schwartz, ma'am."

"Certainly, Agent Schwartz," Jen replied, as she and Casey followed the agent to a table and placed their bags on it.

In her ear, she heard Sarah say, "You're doing great." She wanted to snort and tell her friend she was about to sprint back to the safety of the van, but she instead took another deep breath. _If I keep doing that, I'm going to hyperventilate and there's no paper sack to breathe into._

Agent Schwartz searched through her purse and found nothing questionable. Earlier, she had made sure to empty it of anything other than her wallet and the barest essentials. Her briefcase, she knew, would be another matter. The main compartment was filled with papers about Milo Rambaldi, some pictures of him printed out from the web, a sketch pad and a book on Pope Alexander VI. At the bottom of the briefcase there was a ruler, a roll of book tape, a pair of white cotton gloves and scissors. Things were innocuous and expected for a librarian to be carrying, although the agent did confiscate the scissors with a curt, "you'll get these back later." It was the items stored in the small zippered pocket in the lining of the briefcase that made her hope her antiperspirant was working.

Casey stood relaxed next to her as the agent unzipped the pocket, pulled out the contents and methodically placed them on the table. He laid out three pens, a mechanical pencil, two small screwdrivers, a date stamp, a small paint brush, fourteen cents, a pack of gum and two laptop hard drives.

"What are these?" he asked, picking up the computer hardware.

"Those are the drives to my and Professor Boyd's laptops," she answered without elaboration. She had been instructed by Casey and Sarah to only answer questions as asked and nothing more.

The agent looked less than happy. "Why do you have these drives with you?"

"We assumed we wouldn't be allowed to bring our laptops along with us today so we locked them up in our hotel room safes." She paused and waited for a response from Agent Schwartz. His silent stare indicated he needed more information, so she pressed on. "Call us paranoid," she continued, smiling, "but we don't trust those safes. With all the research we've done, we can't lose any of the information we've gathered. Even if someone takes the laptop, we'll still have our work."

It made sense to her. _Breathe_. She just hoped it would fly with her interrogator. His eyes shifted from her to Casey and then back. "Why didn't you just do a backup onto a thumb drives and leave the drives in the computers?"

Jen's stomach dropped. _Good question_.

Out in the van, Chuck and Sarah's eyes grew wide as they looked at each other, slightly panicked.

"Interesting, you should ask that, Agent Schwartz," Casey said slowly in a rather nebbish voice, trying to stretch for time. "You see…" he trailed off.

Chuck sat up straight and said quickly into his headset, "Casey, tell him you have some extremely expensive proprietary software on the drives. It can't be copied and you can't afford to lose it." He glanced over to Sarah who gave him an approving smile. He dragged both hands over his face and shrugged again.

Casey smoothly picked up where he had left off, repeating Chuck's words verbatim.

Jen watched the agent consider Casey's words. A tense few seconds passed before he nodded his acceptance of the explanation and set the drives back on the table. "Why the screwdrivers?" he asked Jen.

"We're here to study the artifacts. If allowed, we might need to temporarily remove a piece here and there." _Holy crap._ _Would a Rambaldi artifact even have screws?_ Wracking her brain, she tried to think. _When was the screw invented?_ _There was Archimedes' screw water pump – ancient Greece – that'll slow him down if he asks._

Happily however, he didn't ask her any further questions as he was distracted by Casey. "I have a pair of pliers in my briefcase," Casey offered, he now playing the nervous helper. The imposing former NSA agent and Marine actually giggled. "You never can be too prepared." It was all Jen could do to keep her mouth from dropping open and staring at him.

She then realized that Casey was crazy like a fox. He had effectively shifted the scrutiny from her to himself as Agent Schwartz turned to look through Casey's briefcase.

She moved to pick up her things and put them away, but a warning from Sarah came through her earwig. "Jen, leave the stuff on the table until the agent tells you to pack it back up. You don't want to seem too eager." Jen slipped her hands into the pockets of her slacks instead and tried to look unconcerned as Casey's bag was searched.

The contents of Casey's briefcase were similar to Jen's except for the librarian paraphernalia. He did, however, carry a copy of _Maxim_ with a beautiful blonde Australian actress on the cover. Agent Schwartz's eyes lingered on the magazine, he now completely distracted from his duty. "I like fringe," he mumbled to himself.

Jen managed to keep from rolling her eyes and cleared her throat, snapping him out of his stupor. As if it burned his fingers, he let the magazine drop onto the table. While glancing around to see if his superiors had noticed his momentary lapse of focus, he said, "You can put your things away."

As they had just finished putting their belongings back in their briefcases another agent approached.

"Good morning. I'm Agent Jay Abrams," he said, extending his hand. As Jen shook it, she came to the instant conclusion that he looked more like an accountant than a CIA agent. "I'll be your escort today."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Jen Hatch and this is Professor Peter Boyd. Thank you for granting us permission to come here today. It's quite an honor and privilege to be allowed into this building."

He waved his hand dismissively. "It's no problem. We have researchers come through here occasionally. And it was my boss who gave permission. I'm his assistant." He looked to the other agent and asked, "All set?"

Agent Schwartz nodded and instructed Jen and Casey, "Please step through the metal detector."

Adrenaline shot through her when Jen's comm buzzed in her ear as she walked through the security machine. She was greatly relieved when it, and she, didn't set off the alarm. Casey followed her through the detector only to have it go off. Acting sheepish, he removed his watch and stepped through again. Jen couldn't stop the sigh of relief that came when his second trip though the metal detector was alarm free.

They grabbed their belongings and walked with Agent Abrams toward the elevators. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you researching here at our fine facility?" the agent asked.

Jen looked to Casey who gave her a "you go ahead and field that one" look. Taking the hint, she said, "Professor Boyd and I are writing a book about Milo Rambaldi, the fifteenth century architect and inventor. The CIA is in possession of several of his artifacts and has been gracious enough to give us access to study them."

Agent Abrams became extremely excited at this information. "Rambaldi? You're kidding! I know a little about him." They reached the elevator banks and he pressed the "down" button. Lowering his voice, he said conspiratorially, "I work here at this facility, but what I really want to do is write for television."

Jen bit back the groan that would have coincided with the ones she heard in her ear.

Casey, never breaking character, whispered loudly, "Really! That sounds exciting."

Agent Abrams stood a little taller. The elevator dinged and when the doors slid open, the three of them stepped in and with Abrams pressing the button marked "B." Once the doors were closed and the elevator began its descent, the agent continued proudly, "Yeah, I've got some ideas. One is about a passenger airplane that crashes and a bunch of people get stranded on a deserted island."

Jen frowned. "Didn't they do that on _Gilligan's Island_?"

Agent Abrams shook his head repeatedly. "No, no, no, not like that. This would be serious. It's a drama," he paused and considered the idea for a moment, "although I'm not sure how interesting it would be to viewers." His face clouded with doubt.

Jen made a face and shrugged one shoulder.

The elevator slowed to a stop and the doors opened. Jen and Casey waited for Abrams to exit and then followed him out. Scanning her surroundings, Jen realized they were standing at the edge of a huge room. It reminded her of a library, only the stacks weren't bookshelves, but rather tall racks of storage shelves that stood from floor to ceiling. Quickly counting, she saw that there were six shelves per rack. There were rows and rows of shelves, with each shelf holding equipment, boxes, artifacts and even some things that looked like out-and-out junk. Each box was carefully labeled with what she could only assume was a location number and other metadata. Everything else not boxed was labeled with a tag or sticker. Although she stopped an outright gasp of excitement, a delighted squeak did manage to escape. It was like she had just stepped into her own personal heaven.

"Down girl," she heard Sarah chuckle through the comm. It was so unexpected that she snorted, which she had to quickly turn into a cough. Abrams and Casey looked at her, but she just waved a hand and croaked, "Sorry. Swallowed funny."

Casey gave her a little scowl, which pulled her back from any further giddiness. She calmed herself and regained her focus.

Abrams stepped over to a computer palced on a table against a wall and sat down. He typed in a string of characters and hit enter. "Okay, you're looking for Rambaldi artifacts." He opened a window to search the collection's catalog and typed "Rambaldi" into the input box. Nearly instantaneously, results popped up on the screen. Over the agent's shoulder, she could see there were five entries listed, each giving the name of the artifact, the date acquired, a description of it and its location in the facility. The printer next to the computer whirred to life and spit out a piece of paper. Grabbing the paper, Abrams stood and scanned it. "Mm-hmm. All the Rambaldi artifacts are this way."

He strode quickly down a center aisle, Jen and Casey trailing behind him. They traveled past rows of shelf racks, their escort continually checking the signs posted high on the ends of each rack displaying the beginning and ending location numbers. He slowed and then made a right turn. Scanning the shelves, he mumbled random strings of letters and numbers to himself as he zeroed in on the objects.

"Ah, here we are!" he eventually exclaimed. He pointed to the objects on the third shelf from the bottom. Jen silently thanked Zacchaeus, the patron saint of short people, noting that she could reach the shelf without the assistance of a ladder or kick stool.

It was actually really cool, she realized as she scanned the shelf, to have the privilege of working with these five hundred year old items. _Maybe I really should write a book on Rambaldi someday_.

She was pulled from her ruminations when she heard Sarah say, "Jen, we don't have eyes on you now that you're in the stacks. We can only see the main aisle. Clear your throat if you see the laptop."

Jen shifted her eyes quickly to the right of the Rambaldi objects and didn't see it. She looked to the left and then cleared her throat. There the laptop sat, complete with stab wound.

"Roger that," Sarah said. "Are you good to go?"

Jen cleared her throat again as her heart pounded in her chest. _How do I keep getting myself into these crazy situations? I'm just a librarian for crying out loud._"Well, Agent Abrams, thank you for escorting us here. I'm sure Professor Boyd and I will be okay from here. Do you have a way for us to contact you if we need anything?"

Agent Abrams furrowed his brow and frowned. "I'm sorry. I guess you didn't realize that I'll be here with you the whole time. We can't allow you to stay here without an escort."

"Oh, of course. How silly of me." Sarah had warned her that that would probably be the case, but she'd hoped the storage area might be different. _It was worth a shot._ "I hope you don't get too bored."

"No, no. I'll help you in any way I can. I'm fascinated by Rambaldi. Maybe I can work up an idea for a TV show that centers around his artifacts. I'll have to read your book when it gets published."

She forced a smile. "That would be great." Her eyes searched the area as she looked for a place where they could work. At the far end of the shelves about twenty feet away, there was a table against the wall.

"Is it okay if we use that table over there to get a better look at these magnificent items?" she asked.

Agent Abrams glanced over his shoulder. "Sure. That's what they're there for. What would you like to look at first? I'll carry it over to the table for you." He patted himself, as if looking for something in one of his pockets. He scowled when he didn't find what he was searching for. "How unfortunate! I forgot my gloves. We'll have to go back to my office."

"Oh, that's no problem," Jen said. She walked over to the table and placed her briefcase on top of the surface. Opening it, she reached in and brought out her white cotton gloves. "I've worked with enough artifacts and manuscripts to know never to go anywhere without these," she said, smiling as she waved them at the agent before putting them on. _Don't want any fingerprints on that laptop either_.

Agent Abrams pondered the situation, trying to decide if this turn of events was acceptable. Recognizing his hesitation, Casey said, "Ms. Hatch, why don't you go get the clock and bring it here to the table so we can get a better look at it?" He gave her a look and dipped his head.

"Just follow Casey's lead, Jen. It'll be fine," Sarah said in a calm voice.

"Yes, Professor, let's get started." Apparently, Agent Abrams decided that her handling the objects was acceptable since he didn't voice any objections as she walked back to the Rambaldi artifacts and carefully picked up the clock. She lingered for just a moment while she scanned the shelf. An item that looked like a small jewelry box with the name "Irina" inscribed on the lid was right next to the laptop.

Looking back down at the clock in her hand, she realized that she held a priceless artifact. Suddenly, she couldn't wait to get back to the table and put the thing down. Air rushed from her lungs after she gently placed it on the table in front of the two men.

Abrams chuckled. "It's rather nerve-wracking working with these old things, isn't it?"

Jen smiled weakly and gave a small nod.

"Okay," Casey said, pulling on his own set of gloves, "let's see what makes this thing tick."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Back in the van, Chuck and Sarah listened to Jen and Casey discuss the Rambaldi clock for the next half hour. It was clear that although Casey might find Rambaldi boring, he had listened to Jen's "lectures" and thus sounded like an expert. He had even gone so far as to take Jen's drawing pad and sketch the clock.

Pulling off her headset, Sarah said, "He's a very convincing professor."

Chuck nodded. After switching off the microphones on their headsets so they could speak freely, he replied, "I'm sure Jen is happy to know he was paying attention after all."

Sarah closed her eyes and rubbed her fingertips over her forehead a couple of time. Looking at her husband, she said quietly, "Chuck, I sure hope this works." The thought of her friend being apprehended because of them made her stomach tighten. She didn't even want to think about it.

Chuck gently stroked her back and said, "I'm sure it will. Casey's there and we know Jen can handle herself. Remember what she did to Vivian Volkoff and her henchmen."

His touch helped her relax a bit, as did his words. "That's true. She put a bullet in Vivian's shoulder and broke that one guard's nose." She leaned into him and gave him a quick kiss. "You're a very smart man."

He flashed a grin and then schooled his features. "I know," he said solemnly. That response prompted an eye roll and a playful slap on the arm.

"Seriously, though, honey, they'll be okay."

Sarah slipped her headset back on as Chuck flipped the switch to open their mics. They both listened for a moment and when the conversation inside the building lulled, Chuck said, "Casey, is everything okay? Sneeze if things are going according to plan."

They immediately heard a vigorous sneeze and Casey say, "Sorry. I guess the dust got to me."

Relieved, Sarah leaned back in her chair confident that everything was going to be all right.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sketches of the clock had been made and numerous measurements had been taken and noted. It was an exquisite timepiece, obviously made with great love and care. Yet, Jen was disappointed because they had not yet found a reason to get their screwdrivers out. Until that happened, they wouldn't be able to attempt the switch.

She looked over to her partner as he turned the clock over and examined the underside of the wooden base. "Hey, wait a minute!" he exclaimed, his voice filled with genuine excitement. "Abrams, take a look at this!" There was a small panel with two wooden screws holding it in place. Casey gave her a pointed look and said, "Ms. Hatch, please hand me one of your screwdrivers. Let me see if I can get the panel off." Her pulse raced as she unzipped the briefcase pocket and looked at him. Casey raised his eyebrows and nodded. With her left hand she slipped a screwdriver and one of the hard drives into her slacks' pocket while she handed the other screwdriver to Casey.

She then watched over one of Casey's shoulders while Agent Abrams peered over the other as he carefully removed the two small wooden screws and set them on the table. He lifted the wooden piece out to reveal a small hiding place. After peering in, he groaned and leaned back in his chair. The other two looked inside and groaned with disappointment as well. It was empty.

"Whatever was in there was probably taken out long ago," Abrams said sagely.

Casey nodded and said, "Well, I think we've done everything we can with this. Ms. Hatch, why don't you go get one of the other artifacts while I put the panel back on the clock."

"Okay," she said slowly, almost as a question. Casey gave her a nearly imperceptible nod. "I'll be right back."

She was about half way down the aisle when she heard her partner exclaim, "Oh! I'm so sorry! I dropped one of the screws on the floor. Agent Abrams, can you help me look for it?"

"Yes, of course!" the other man replied as he slid out of his chair and dropped to his hands and knees, searching under the table for the errant wooden screw.

"Jen, is everything okay?"

"Yes," Jen whispered. "Casey's got Abrams distracted. I can make the switch."

Jen reached the Irina box and moved a foot past so that she stood right in front of the laptop. It was different than any other computer she had ever seen. Although she wanted to examine it, she didn't dare take the time. Taking a quick peek over her shoulder, she saw Casey and Abrams searching the floor, Abrams' back to her. She flipped the laptop over and taking the screwdriver from her pocket, swiftly removed the screws from the panel which held the drive. Lifting off the cover, she saw the item she had come for. She realized she couldn't take it out with her gloved finger, so she gripped the tip of the glove's middle finger between her teeth and pulled it off. With the glove dangling from her mouth, she quickly removed the drive, placed it next to the screwdriver on the shelf and put the replacement drive where original had been. Making sure she only touched the cover with her still gloved hand she put it back in place. Now that her right hand was free, she was able to quickly screw the panel back in place, put the purloined drive and screwdriver away, slip the glove back on and flip the computer back over. The whole operation had only taken a minute. She just hoped no one noticed that the layer of dust that had once covered the laptop had been wiped away.

Chancing another peek over her shoulder, she saw the two men still searching for the lost screw. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Chuck, Sarah, I got it," she whispered as she picked up the Irina box and headed back toward the table. Once there, she placed the object on the table and said, "I guess I should help you find that screw."

Just as the words left her mouth, Casey called out, "Found it!" He sat back on his heels and held his hand out showing them the screw which lay in his palm. "Little bugger was hard to find."

"You had that in your hand the whole time, didn't you, Casey?" Chuck asked over the comm.

"Yes, indeed," Casey replied aloud, "that little thing was hard to find."

"Well, that's a relief," Agent Abrams chuckled as he stood and brushed the dust from the knees of his pants. "From now on, I think it would be better if you don't take the artifacts apart."

"Agreed," Casey said as he replaced the panel and tightened the screws. He then handed the screwdriver back to Jen who put it back in her briefcase pocket. Unfortunately, that which resided in her pocket stayed there as she was not able to put anything else away without being seen by Abrams. But at least she had been able to make the exchange. Now all they had to do was get out of the building and they would be home free.

After she had returned the clock to its place on the shelf, they spent the next hour examining, sketching and measuring the Irina box. With the switch made, Jen was itchy to get out of there. She knew, however, that they had to continue the charade of being researchers, so she soldiered on. Somehow, Sarah always seemed to know when Jen's anxiety level began to rise, giving her words of encouragement at just the right time.

Finally, Casey stood and stretched as if fatigued from sitting so long. He looked down at his watch and exclaimed, "Wow! It's lunchtime." Looking at Jen he said, "Why don't we run out and get something to eat and come back later?"

"Hey, why don't you come to the cafeteria with me?" Abrams asked. "That way you won't have to go through security again when you come back."

_Why not indeed? _Thinking quickly, Jen replied, "Thank you, Agent Abrams. That's a great idea, but Peter has forgotten that we have a lunch meeting with our publisher today." Without looking at her watch, she tapped the face of it a couple of times with her finger and said, "We need to meet him in less than an hour."

"Yes, I'd forgotten. Thank you for reminding me," Casey replied in a voice that made Jen look at him twice.

Now that they were clear to leave, Jen couldn't wait to get to the safety of the van. They gathered together their written notes and drawings and quickly shoved them into their bags. Jen felt the point of the screwdriver poke through the pocket of her pants and scratch her thigh. It probably wouldn't be a big deal to slip everything back in her briefcase, but she didn't dare take the chance. They were so close to completing the mission, she didn't want to do anything to blow it now.

With everything picked up and the artifacts placed safely back on the shelf where they belonged, the three of them left the storage area and rode the elevator back to the main floor. When doors slid open, there was a crowd waiting to get on. People sifted through each other until there was one lone man standing in front of Jen, Casey and Agent Abrams.

Their escort blanched.

"Thank you, Agent Abrams," the man said. "You may return to your office downstairs. I'll take over escorting Ms. Hatch and Professor Boyd from here."

"Yes, Agent Decker."


	15. Chapter 15 Houdini

**A/N:** Thank you again for reading and reviewing this story. I appreciate it so much. There is one more chapter to come.

Thanks to my always awesome beta, **AgentInWaiting** for working his magic on this chapter.

As always, I don't own _Chuck_, etc.

**Chapter 15 - Houdini  
><strong>

"Chuck!" Sarah cried, her eyes flicking from monitor to monitor. She ripped off her headset, close to panic. "Where did Decker come from? I didn't see him until he was already in front of them!" Her blood ran cold. Decker was bad news. Really bad. "What are we going to do? We can't just let him drag them off."

"If we rush in there now, we'll just end up wherever they're going. That won't do them any good."

Her husband's words blunted her initial reaction to rush in and try to save them. He was right. She knew that building better than anyone. If they went in now, they would have agents swarming all over them in seconds. Blowing out a frustrated breath, she replied, "Okay. We have to be smart. What can we do?"

Chuck leaned back in his chair, lifted his rear off the seat and straightened out his long, right leg so he could get his hand into the front pocket of his jeans. From it, he pulled out a small, crumpled piece of paper. He smoothed it out on his thigh and then held it up for Sarah to see. Written in Casey's cramped, almost illegible handwriting was a phone number. Nothing else. "Casey gave me this number just before he and Jen left the van. He told me if this thing went south, I'm to call this number and say one word."

She held her breath in anticipation.

"Pineapple."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Decker?_ Jen worked to keep her face from registering shock when she heard his name. She knew she had just paled, however, as she felt the blood drain from her face._ Crap. This is bad._

Through her earwig she heard Chuck and Sarah conversing, but not speaking directly to her. Obviously, they were trying to figure out what to do. In the meantime, she assumed her best course of action was to stay in character and buy as much time as she could until something, she didn't know exactly what, happened to get them out of this predicament. She was infinitely relieved to have John Casey with her. The man could stare down a grizzly bear.

_Keep calm and carry on._It wasn't difficult for her to wear a befuddled look. "I'm sorry, Agent Duncan, but you have me at a disadvantage. You seem to know who we are, but I don't believe we've ever met."

The left side of Decker's upper lip twitched into an amused sneer.

_Is he trying to channel Elvis?_

"It's Agent Decker and I'm sure you've heard of me from your friends: Chuck Bartowski, Sarah Walker and," he looked directly at Casey and finished, "John Casey."

She gave Decker a smile when he listed off their names. "Of course. Yes, they're my friends. But I don't see what they have to do with me and Professor Boyd. We're here today doing research for a book we're writing on Milo Rambaldi." Deciding to go on the offensive, she looked pointedly at her watch and said, "We really need to go. We have a lunch appointment in less than an hour so if you'll excuse us – "

She stepped to the right in an attempt to move past Decker, but he moved in front of her, blocking her path. "I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to do that. I've had you all followed for quite some time. I know the Bartowskis are here with you in Washington."

Jen scowled. "Of course they are. They brought us out here in their new plane. They're nice people that way." _This guy is really irritating._

"I think you'd better come with me to one of our interrog - 'interview' rooms." Two of Decker's goons suddenly appeared behind Jen and Casey. It was abundantly clear that they weren't leaving the building anytime soon. Decker pushed the up elevator button and waited. When the door slid open, Decker jerked his head indicating that they should all follow him. Goon One grabbed her arm and forced her into behind Decker. Goon Two did the same to Casey. The doors closed and the elevator smoothly moved upward.

Breaking the awkward silence as the five of the stood in the elevator, Casey finally spoke. In his strangely soft Professor Boyd voice, he said, "We have permission to be here, you know."

"I know. There's nothing that goes on at the CIA that I don't know about," Decker shot back, his voice full of hubris.

The elevator dinged and came to a gentle stop. The doors slid apart, revealing a tiny woman wearing an Air Force uniform with a star on each shoulder and an impressive set of medal and service ribbons on her chest. Shoulders back and hands clasped behind her, she appeared to Jen, despite her small frame, to be a formidable woman. She stared directly into Decker's face.

"What are you doing here?" he groused, clearly irritated at her presence.

Regardless of the dire straits she found herself in, Jen had to bite her lip to keep from making a snarky comment pointing out that Decker didn't know all the goings on at the CIA after all. Luckily, her brain filter kicked in and she kept her thoughts to herself.

"That's _General Beckman_, to you Agent Decker. I'm still your superior officer and I expect you to treat me as such," she stated in a tone that indicated that she was not intimidated by Decker at all nor did she like him. "And as for what I'm doing here, well, that's none of your damn business."

_That name!_ Jen recognized it immediately. General Beckman had been the head of Team Bartowski. Her eyes darted towards the general's and saw them flash. _Could she be here to help us?_

The general took a couple of steps back to allow the occupants of the elevator to exit. Decker went first, followed closely by Jen and Casey with the forceful assistance Goon One and Goon Two.

"You don't have to be so rough with Ms. Hatch and me," Casey complained in his cover voice. "I'm a professor, not a criminal."

Decker was about to respond to Casey when General Beckman scowled and said, "Just a minute, Decker. This is Jen Hatch?"

Decker's nodded slowly, his face full of understanding. "Oh, I get it. You're in on it. Bartowski, Walker and Casey were your pets on the Intersect project and now you're trying to keep their butts out of the fire. And you were all ready to add Hatch, here, to the team until it met its unfortunate demise." A self-satisfied smirk curled on his lips. He looked malevolently down at the tiny woman and sneered, "You can't help them because I've caught them red handed stealing government property from this very facility."

Beckman took a step closer and growled, "I still don't appreciate your tone, Decker. And I'd be careful about whose butt will be in a sling when this whole thing is over."

Jen almost giggled, she was so giddy that they had a champion fighting Decker. She wanted to go hug their savior and protector, but they still weren't out of the woods yet.

The general narrowed her eyes and asked, "Where's your evidence of any wrongdoing by these two? What did they allegedly steal?"

Decker glanced triumphantly first at Jen and then Casey before he spoke. "They said they were here to examine Rambaldi artifacts for a book they're writing. Not by coincidence, I'm sure," he said smugly, "those artifacts were stored right next to Orion's damaged laptop. My guess is that the laptop is in one of their briefcases."

The general's eyebrows shot up. "Really? Well then, do you mind if we look in your briefcases?" she asked, addressing the two.

Knowing they wouldn't find the laptop, they readily held their cases open for inspection. Finding nothing but Rambaldi related paper and librarian detritus, Decker's face pinked with anger. In a fit of pique, he grabbed Jen's briefcase and pawed through her belongings. She swallowed hard when he unzipped the small pocket and pulled out a laptop hard drive.

"What's this?" Decker asked, smugly.

"It's a hard drive," Jen answered as if she was addressing a five-year-old. She wasn't able to keep the contempt from her voice.

He stared up at the ceiling for a moment, clearly irritated with her. She was secretly thrilled at the thought of getting under Decker's skin. "I realize that," he said in a measured voice. "My guess is that it's the drive from Orion's laptop."

She stared back at him quizzically. "Who's Orion?"

Decker gritted his teeth. "You won't mind if we check this drive in one of the computers we have around here, do you?" he asked. The glint in his eye told her he knew he had them.

"We don't really have a choice, do we?"

"No, not really," he replied. He was like a cat playing with a mouse before the last, deadly pounce. "Let's go," he barked, relieving Casey of his briefcase.

Goon One and Goon Two hustled Jen and Casey down the hallway behind Decker and Beckman. Decker eventually stopped and threw open a door and they were herded into a room with only a metal table and several very uncomfortable looking metal chairs.

"Sit down!" Decker ordered as he tossed the two briefcases in his hand onto the table. Jen and Casey did as they were told and sat down next to each other. Beckman claimed a spot off in a corner, her arms folded in front of her. Her scowl indicated she wasn't happy about any of this.

"Agent Karras, get your laptop and bring it here." Goon One nodded and quickly left the room, closing the door behind him. Goon Two took his place near the entrance, guarding it.

Decker, his hands clasped behind him, prowled back and forth in front of them. "I happen to know that Orion's laptop is one of a kind. The hard drive from his computer won't work in just any laptop. Am I right?" he asked, not expecting an answer. "If we put this hard drive into my associate's computer, my guess is that it won't even boot up."

Jen chaffed inwardly at his self-satisfied smirk. She didn't want to make things worse, so she remained silent. Sneaking a peek at her comrade, she saw that Casey sat tall in his chair, his eyes fixed on the wall before him. _Name, rank and serial number will be all they ever get out of him_, she thought.

"Well, I look forward to throwing you two in – " Decker wasn't able to finish his thought as Goon One returned to the room with his laptop secured under his arm. He placed it on the table and stepped back, taking his place next to Goon Two near the door. They were two very silent and very intimidating sentinels.

"I'm sure you don't mind if I use your screwdriver," he said gleefully, the irony clearly amusing him.

"Again, I don't seem to have much choice in the matter, do I?" Jen said quietly. She knew she should just stay quiet, that he was goading her into her responses, but she just couldn't stand this jerk. Sucking in a deep breath, she hoped the increase in oxygen would help her regain some control over her emotions.

"No," he said, this time his voice sounded much more threatening, "you don't." Using the screwdriver, he quickly removed the screws and panel from the laptop, exchanged drives and re-secured the panel. Flipping the computer back over, his eyes flashed with excitement as he opened it and pressed the on button.

The room grew silent. Every occupant dare not even breathe.

Nothing.

An evil, malevolent grin grew across Decker's face. He stalked around the table and stuck his face right into Casey's. "Well, I guess that answers that – "

_Ping_.

His grin instantly disappeared and his head snapped toward the computer which then made a whirring noise and then chimed. Jen's eyes shot to Decker's face which had darkened with anger. "What the hell…" he growled.

Jen's gaze shifted from Decker's irritated visage to General Beckman, still standing in the corner. Her stance had changed somewhat, however, as she now hid her mouth behind her hand. She wasn't sure, but Jen thought maybe she saw a hint of a smile crinkle around the general's eyes.

The computer continued to make noises as it booted up. The login screen soon flashed on the monitor.

Decker looked at the computer and then looked at Jen, his eyes shooting daggers at her.

"The hard drive takes a while to get going," she said sweetly. "I can't really afford to replace it. Academic's salary and all that. You understand." She eyed his expensively cut suit and silk tie. "Or maybe not."

He involuntarily lifted a hand to his tie and started to fidget with the knot.

"My login is name is Jen, of course. I probably shouldn't tell you this," Jen continued in a low, conspiratorial voice, "but since you're with the CIA, I think I can trust you to keep a secret. My password is 'deweyrocks.'"

Decker glared at her.

"You know, Melvil Dewey." She searched his face as if trying to see some recognition of the famous librarian's name. "Dewey Decimal System? Libraries?"

Beckman stepped over to the computer and typed in the password. Jen's wallpaper appeared with icons of programs and documents sprinkled across it. Her wallpaper was a photo of her, Mark and their daughter, Sarah, taken in front of Buckingham Palace.

"Nice picture," the general said.

"Thanks. It was a lovely trip. You should really go through the Palace if you get the chance some summer. It really is – "

_"That's enough out of you!"_Decker roared.

Swirling her finger over the trackpad, Beckman put the cursor over a document icon and double clicked. The file opened and words filled the screen; words like Rambaldi, architect, Pope Alexander VI and inventions.

The general stepped back and away from the computer just as Decker inched his face closer and closer to the screen.

_"Search them!"_he finally screamed.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Jen shot back. "We're private citizens and we've just about had enough of your crap – "

That was all she was able to say before she was grabbed by the arm and forced to stand. Casey stood quickly, knocking back his chair, before Goon Two could touch him. Goon Two roughly searched Casey's person and then stepped back when he found nothing.

Goon One also ran his hands over Jen's arms and legs, but stopped when it was time for him to search the rest of her body. His wide eyes and the mortified look he wore on his face indicated that he was intensely uncomfortable with the whole situation. He cleared his throat and looked to Decker for guidance.

"Do it," Decker growled at Goon One.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to Jen.

Compassion for the man overcame her as she realized he seemed to be just as much a prisoner to Decker's megalomania as she and Casey were.

"I understand," she replied quietly and was gratified when he ever so lightly brushed his hands over her chest. He wasn't as delicate, however, as he pressed his hands over her abdomen and back since he still had a job to do. His hands stopped their search once he hit the waist of her slacks. He did, however, pat her front pockets and her backside. She felt her face flame with embarrassment and anger. All of her anger was directed at Decker.

"Sorry Agent Decker," Goon One, also known as Agent Karras, said. "She's clean."

A ropelike vein popped up at the center of Decker's forehead and ran from his hairline to just between his eyebrows. It throbbed and pulsed just under his skin. He looked like he might spontaneously combust and turn to ash right there on the spot.

"Strip search her!" Decker spat. "She's got to have that drive on her somewhere and I intend to find it!"

Jen gasped and stumbled back a step, trying to get away from the hateful man.

Casey stretched himself to his full, intimidating height and took one step to the left so that he stood between his partner and their foe. The affectation of Professor Boyd was gone when he warned Decker in a low growl, "You'll have to go through me." His blue eyes narrowed and drilled into Decker, daring the agent to take him on.

General Beckman stepped between the two men in an attempt to defuse the volatile situation. If Jen hadn't been in such a dire circumstance, she might have found some humor at the incongruity of Beckman, a woman smaller than herself, being the only thing that kept them from clashing like two very large, very angry grizzly bears. It was clear whose side the general was on as she once again folded her arms tightly across her chest and glared at Decker. "You'll do no such thing, Agent Decker. Stand down." She tore her gaze from Decker and stared at the other two agents, silently telling them it would behoove them to obey her order. Wordlessly, they stepped away from Jen and Casey and returned to their previous positions near the door. They might have feared Decker, but they respected and feared a brigadier general more.

"I - You - " Decker sputtered. "You can't do that!"

"I can and I just did," she replied with clipped words, shutting Decker down. "You searched them and found no evidence of any wrongdoing. They have official paperwork that gives them permission to be in the building. The drive you discovered was not taken from Orion's laptop." Beckman gave Decker a pointed look. "These people are private citizens, not criminals. The harassment stops _now_." It was clear from her tone there was to be no argument. Although Jen was sure that Decker did indeed want to argue, he remained quiet. It was clear that it was physically painful for him as the vein in his forehead continued to throb.

Turning her head slightly to address them, the general said in a measured voice, "Ms. Hatch, Professor Boyd, get your things. You're leaving. I'll escort you out."

Jen didn't have to be told twice. She quickly put her things back in her briefcase while Casey shut down the laptop which still had the Rambaldi document open on its monitor and removed the drive. His eyebrows were raised in a silent question as he it handed to her. Daring not to change her facial expression at all, her only response to him was to look straight into his eyes and hold his stare for a split second. Taking the hardware from him, she slipped it into her briefcase and said, "Thank you, Professor."

Decker let out a groan in disgust that they were still keeping up the pretense that Casey was Professor Boyd. But since they hadn't been called out regarding Casey's identity, they kept it up.

Beckman opened the door and held it as Jen and Casey filed past her. The three of them nearly ran to the elevator bank where Jen pressed the down button urgently and repeatedly. She really couldn't wait to get out of the building.

The elevator arrived promptly. Even though they were the sole occupants as they descended, no one spoke a word. Their silence continued as they left the confines of the elevator and walked to the security area where they signed out.

At this point, Jen assumed General Beckman would take her leave of them. Instead, the general continued to walk with them through the lobby and out the front doors. When they had cleared the building grounds and were striding down the sidewalk the general finally said, "I assume the Bartowskis are nearby?"

"Yes, ma'am," Casey answered his former boss. "They're in the van."

Beckman chuckled. "So, after all these years, Chuck finally has learned to stay in the van?"

He grunted. "He needed the right incentive." The general looked at him inquisitively. "Blonde, blue eyes, and…" His two hands made curves in the air.

"Actually, no," Jen heard Chuck say in her comm. "But stakeouts _are_ a lot more pleasant these days." Squinting, she looked down the sidewalk and spotted Chuck and Sarah hurrying toward them.

"We heard everything that happened," Sarah said as she and her husband approached. When they reached them they all stopped and grouped together in circle on the sidewalk. "General Beckman, thank you for helping out in there. How did you know that Jen and Casey needed," she paused to come up with the right word, "assistance?"

The general and Casey shared a knowing look. "When our project was terminated," she started delicately, "John and I set up a protocol whereby he could contact me indirectly if you needed my help. We still have some of the same acquaintances." A thin eyebrow cocked and she said drily, "Apparently, the need arose. I received a message that you would be here this morning and was asked to be on the premises 'just in case.'" She smirked and said, "I've worked with Team Bartowski for four years. I figured I'd better be around."

Jen watched as Chuck, Sarah, Casey and the general share a laugh.

"The message also told me to look out for Ms. Hatch's name so I had my 'resources' here at the agency flag it. We've watched you all morning on the security feed once your name popped up," Beckman said, glancing Jen's way.

She suddenly felt uncomfortable when all eyes landed on her, as if she should say something. All she could do was shrug one shoulder, embarrassed at the attention.

"We don't know how to thank you," Chuck said to the general, is voice filled with gratitude.

"You're welcome," she replied. "Just stay out of trouble from here on out, would you please?"

Jen thought the tiny woman was teasing, but the rather stern expression on the general's face made her change her mind.

"I'd like to thank you as well, General," Jen said, extending her hand. "We haven't even been formally introduced and you saved me from whatever Decker had in store for us." As she shook the general's hand, she added, "I feel like I should do something for you, like buy you a car or something."

"I appreciate the sentiment, Ms. Hatch, but really isn't necessary," Beckman chuckled. "Just tell me your mission was a success and I'll be happy."

"Oh, yes," Jen started enthusiastically, her blue eyes flashing. "I was able to – "

Beckman held up her hand and cut her off. Closing her eyes and shaking her head emphatically, she grumbled, "Don't need to know. Don't want to know." Opening her eyes she added, "Plausible deniability is a valuable commodity in this town. I'd like to keep mine."

"Yes, ma'am," Jen replied and then clamped her mouth shut with great resolve.

"It was good to see you all today," the general said standing up straighter. "Good luck in your future endeavors." She shook each of their hands and then said pointedly, "I would suggest you beat a hasty retreat home."

Sarah nodded curtly. "Yes, ma'am."

With that, the general nodded in return, turned on her heel and walked quickly back toward the building while the four continued their way to their van.

There was an unspoken sense of urgency to get back to the safety of the vehicle now that Jen and Casey were out of the building. They turned a corner and relief flooded Jen when she could see the van about twenty yards away. She was about to let out a sigh of relief when Goon Two and Decker stepped out from behind a couple of trees and stood between them and the van.

"Oh, for Pete's sake," Jen muttered under her breath.

"I'll take that drive back, now," Decker said as he stepped toward Jen, his hand outstretched. "You don't have the general here to save you and I – "

Jen's eyes widened as she watched Decker and Goon Two crumple to the ground in heaps, each with a small dart sticking out of their necks. Her head snapped to the left, where she saw Sarah, stone faced, standing with a tranq gun pointed at their would-be assailants. "Well, the general might not be here, but I am." She pumped one more dart into each man. "A helpless girl can't be too careful," she shrugged.

They stepped over the unconscious bodies, Chuck snickering at his wife's description of herself, jumped in the van and drove off toward the hotel. It was time to leave DC.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The drive back to the hotel was quiet. As Sarah drove, her eyes continually flicked to the rear view mirror as she vigilantly watched to ensure they weren't being followed. At one point, Chuck had asked Jen where the hard drive was, but she only shook her head and said, "I'll give it to you once where in the air. I don't trust Decker not to pop out from behind some random tree or mailbox."

Once at the hotel, they were workmanlike as they packed up their bags and gear, loaded the van and drove off. Sarah had already called ahead to have the crew at the airport fuel and prepare the plane for departure. When they arrived, the Gulfstream was sitting outside the hangar, glistening in the sun, ready for flight. Sarah performed the preflight check while Chuck and Casey loaded the plane.

As the airplane streaked down the runway and jumped off the deck into the air, Sarah checked her watch. From the time she had put the tranq darts into Decker and his henchman, only three hours had passed. They would be home by evening.

They had reached their cruising altitude when Sarah said, "Casey, I'm going to go talk to Jen for a few minutes."

"Roger."

Sarah climbed out of the cockpit seat and stepped into the cabin. Chuck was in the same position he had been in on their flight east, stretched out on the divan, feet propped up on the armrest. Only this time, his eyes were closed and his hands were resting on his chest. Jen sat in one of the chairs, staring into space. "How are you doing back here?" Sarah asked the other woman sitting down in a chair across from her.

Jen's eyes regain their focus and Sarah received a weary smile from her friend. "Good. Tired. Glad to be going home. Today was… eventful."

Sarah nodded. "Do you, you know, need to talk about it?" Even as the words crossed her lips, she had a hard time believing it was her voice. She was usually the last one to talk about things. Things certainly had changed.

Jen's smile reached her eyes, obviously relieved the mission was over evident. "Thanks, sweetie. I'm okay now that were in the air. Speaking of which, I guess I can give you the drive now that we seem to be away from the clutches of Agent Decker." She put a hand to her forehead and a look of horror crossed her face. "Crap! I just jinxed it didn't I? He'll be there waiting for us at the airport."

Sarah couldn't help but laugh. "You never know, but I doubt it. Remember, the last time we saw him he was taking a 'nap' in the middle of a sidewalk in Langley, Virginia."

Jen grinned at that. "Maybe he and his buddy got arrested for vagrancy. _That_ would make this day better."

Leaning back in her chair, Sarah placed her index finger on the side of her face and quirked an eyebrow. "So, Jen, where exactly _did_ you hide the pilfered drive?"

Jen snuck a glance to where Chuck lay. Sarah followed her gaze. He was still recumbent on the divan, his breath steady. He was sound asleep. At the adorableness of her sleeping husband, her face softened and a little smile turned up at the corners of her lips.

"Good, he's still out," Jen said as she stood and turned her back to Sarah for about five seconds. There was the sound of rustling clothes and then she spun back around and flopped back to her seat. "There you go," she said, handing the drive to Sarah.

"I, um, wow!" Sarah was stunned. "That was very Houdini-like." She leaned forward and whispered, "I have to know. Where exactly did you hide it?"

Jen mimicked what Sarah had done and sat forward, preparing to share the secret. Her face pinked and she whispered, "I hid it down the front of my… ah… underwear." She pressed her lips together and peered into Sarah's face expectantly, waiting for a reaction. After a split second, Jen burbled, "I'm sorry! TMI?"

Sarah relaxed back into her seat and shook her head, laughing. "No, not at all. I should expect something unconventional from you. It was a brilliant move, actually."

Jen pulled a face and shrugged. "It was the only place I could think of to hide it." She ran a hand through her hair and cringed a little when she said, "I thought for sure I was busted when Decker had us searched. Thankfully, the mama of the agent who searched me raised her boy right. He was very respectful and didn't… er… he didn't search…" she stopped, unable to come up with the right way to put it.

Sarah put a gentle hand on her friend's arm. "Say no more. Anyway, mission accomplished, right?"

Smiling, Jen replied, "Right."


	16. Chapter 16 If Only

**A/N:** Well, we've come to the end of another adventure of Team Bartowski and the ninja librarian. Thank you for your patience regarding the long time spans between the postings of these last few chapters. I hope this was worth the wait. I'd love to hear from you.

Thank you to all who have read, reviewed, favorited and alerted this story. I appreciate it more than you know. Thank you to my wonderful beta, **AgentInWaiting**. You know what would be great? If you went and voted for him for an Awesome Award.

Don't own _Chuck_, etc.

**Chapter 16 – If Only**

Chuck finished securing the last screw holding the recently "reacquired" hard drive into the laptop he had built using his father's schematics. He turned the laptop right side up and opened the lid. Sarah, Casey, Ellie and Morgan exchanged glances with him and each other as they sat around the conference table in Castle.

"Well, here goes nothing," Chuck said, pushing the "on" button.

Much to everyone's relief, the laptop pinged, whirred and hummed to life. Chuck quickly typed in the password and scanned the files listed on the hard drive. Everything was still there, including the Intersect documents Ellie had studied.

"Ellie, these are the files you think will remove the Intersect, right?" he asked, turning the laptop around for her to see.

Pulling the laptop toward her, she quickly scanned the screen, opening and reviewing the files.

"Yeah, those are the ones." She looked over to Morgan and then back to Chuck. "I'm pretty sure Dad never used them. I can't promise what will happen." She frowned with concern. "I mean, he was a genius and everything, but there's really no way to test it…"

Morgan paled a little. "Wait. Guys, what are you saying? That trying to remove the Intersect could fry my brain?"

Casey snorted and rolled his eyes. "Might be an improvement, moron," he muttered.

Sarah raised an eyebrow and said quietly, "Casey. Not helping." The sternness in her voice didn't match the twinkle in her eye.

Chuck gave Casey a pointed look and then turned to Morgan. Trying to allay his friend's fears, he said, "Buddy, I've had the Intersect downloaded and removed a couple of different times now and I've always been okay. My dad knew what he was doing. You'll be fine."

Morgan didn't look convinced. "Maybe if I just left it there but never used it? If I promise never to mention the flashes, can we just leave it alone?"

Chuck, Sarah and Ellie looked at each other, considering Morgan's plea.

The colonel would have none of it. "Oh, grow a pair, Grimes. It'll be fine," he snarked. "Let's just get this over with." He glanced down at his watch. "I've got things to shoot."

"Uh, exactly what – " Chuck began.

"At the range, Bartowski," Casey amended. "Don't get your panties in a twist."

Morgan tried again, "But Casey, I might be able to control it better with some more practice. It'd be really useful out in the field. I could be the Chuck to your Sarah." Three heads suddenly turned towards him, mouths open. "What?" He noticed that his best friend and his wife had somehow managed to move closer to one another and were now holding hands. "Oh, no, not like _that_. More like Yoda to your Luke, Batman to your Robin – "

This time, Sarah interrupted. "Morgan, we don't know much about the Intersect you uploaded from those sunglasses since they didn't come from Orion. If it's a little different, it might affect you badly in the long run. Remember how Chuck had so many problems and had to wear the governor?"

"Yeah," Casey agreed. "Walker's right. You never know what the Intersect might do to you. Who knows? Maybe it will turn you into a gigantic, pain in the ass douche bag."

"Casey!" they all cried.

"Well, it might!" Casey grumbled, defending himself.

Ellie nodded. "Sarah's right, Morgan. We don't know what this version of the Intersect will do. The longer we wait to get it out, the more damage it could cause." She gave him the "mom" stare and said in the voice she used to use to get Chuck and him to do things when they were younger, "We really need to do this, Morgan. Now."

Morgan fidgeted in his chair under her intense gaze. He could never deny Ellie anything. Ever. Even after all these years. "Okay. Let's do this."

Chuck turned the computer back around and typed a few keystrokes. Then he turned the laptop screen toward Morgan. Chuck's finger hovered over the "enter" key. "Ready?"

"No! Wait!" Morgan cried. "In case my brain comes out of this like Swiss cheese, I just want to say a few things."

Sarah let out a quiet sigh and Casey groaned, not nearly as quietly.

And so Morgan began his "death" soliloquy. "Chuck. What can I say, buddy?" He gave Chuck an adoring look. "We've been friends forever, man, and I just want to say thanks for – "

His moment was interrupted when Casey snarled, "Oh, for Reagan's sake!" He stalked to where Morgan sat, and in one swift motion, wrapped his arm so that the smaller man's head was secure against the his chest. He then pushed Morgan's face right up next to the computer screen and mashed the enter button.

The bearded man's blue eyes darted over the computer screen as they took in the images that flashed across it, one after another. In less than a minute the program finished, the barrage of images disappeared and the words "Have a Nice Day" with a big smiley face popped up on the screen.

Satisfied that the program was ended, Casey grunted and freed Morgan from the headlock.

All eyes were on him as Morgan sat unmoving, staring at the happy face on the screen. Finally, he blinked. Then again. Scrunching his eyes closed, he shook his head a couple of times as if he was trying to shake cobwebs from it. He opened his eyes and glanced around the room. "Well, I guess I'm not dead."

Relief was evident on his friends' faces as they relaxed and released their collective breaths.

However, Ellie was still concerned. "We need to check his memory, just to make sure he's okay." Turning to her subject, she said, "Morgan, what day is it?"

"Um, Thursday?"

Ellie scowled with disapproval. "Do you know or are you just guessing?"

"El, he never knows what day it is," Chuck said. "Here, let me try. Morgan, what did you have for lunch yesterday?"

Morgan's eyes lit up. "Oh, dude! I had the best sandwich from Subway. It was one of those meatball subs. And because I go there all the time," he blushed a little, "and I think the girl behind the counter likes me, she gave me three extra meatballs. It was awesome! And I had some of those little pepper things on the side and — "

"He's fine," they said collectively.

Casey stood and said, "Well, the moron is back to normal. I'm going to go shoot stuff now." He grabbed his bag, charged up the stairs and opened the door. "And _I'm_ Batman," he growled over his shoulder before making his departure.

Having watched Casey's hurried exit, Chuck returned his attention to his friend. "Good. You're not dead and obviously functioning like normal. The question now is whether or not the Intersect is gone."

Sarah pushed a manila folder with the words "Top Secret" in large, screaming red letters across it in front of Morgan and instructed him, "Open this file and see if you flash."

He looked into Chuck's and Ellie's faces and they smiled at him encouragingly and nodded their heads. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and opened the file. He tilted his head and re-opened his eyes. Before him was an Interpol photo of one of the scariest looking men he had ever seen. The man had a giant head which had been shaved bald, small pig-like eyes and a scar across his left cheek. The scowl on his face was clearly a permanent fixture.

"Whoa! That's one scary looking dude," Morgan said, rolling his chair away from the table as if putting some distance between himself and the photo would keep him somehow safer. "What's his name? What'd he do?"

Chuck, Sarah and Ellie shared knowing looks. "So, Morgan, you don't recognize him?" Sarah asked him slowly.

From a distance, Morgan peered at the photo again and shook his head emphatically. "Nope. Never seen that face before. And trust me, if I had, I'd remember. That's a face only a mother could love." He glanced around at them and asked, "Why? Should I?"

They waited for the penny to drop.

The confusion on Morgan's face cleared and his eyes opened wide with understanding. "Hey, guys! I didn't flash! I looked at this guy and I don't know who he is!" He waited a beat and then asked, "Who is he?"

"He's the kingpin of a Russian mafia family recently apprehended by Interpol. But who he is isn't important. The fact that you didn't flash on him is." Chuck clapped his friend on the shoulder and said happily, "Congratulations, buddy! Looks like you're Intersect free."

"Awesome, dude! Thank you all." Morgan looked around the room and asked, "Where's Jen? She was a huge part of this. I want to thank her, too."

"She'll be in a little later," Sarah replied. "She had some things to do at home and then she was going to check in upstairs to see how things went while we were in Washington."

"Yeah, I should get up there, too. I'm still the manager." He looked at Chuck. "Is it okay if I…" he pointed up toward the door leading out of Castle.

"Yeah, sure, buddy. Go. We'll see you up there in a little while."

Morgan jumped out of his chair and sprinted up the stairs. The spring in his step made it clear he was happy to be free of the Intersect.

Ellie stood and said, "Well, now that Morgan's head is back to," she dropped her voice, "'normal' I'm heading home to take care of the baby. Will I see you two later?"

Chuck and Sarah looked at each other and Sarah nodded. "Yeah, sure El. We'll come by after dinner, if that's okay," Chuck replied.

"Sure. See you then." She grabbed her purse, went up the stairs and was gone, leaving the newlyweds alone in Castle.

Sarah took her husband's hand pulled it closer to her. Playing with his fingers, she asked, "Do you want to have that conversation now?"

He stared at a spot at the center of the table. "And what conversation would that be?" Teasing, he added, "What to have for dinner tonight?"

"Don't mess with me, Chuck," she snickered, still playing with his fingers. "You know I use these to make you talk."

He smiled nervously and tried to extract his hand from hers. She didn't let go, and instead raised it to her lips and kissed each of his fingers. His face turned from nervous to tortured.

"Gah, Sarah! Don't do that unless you mean it."

She chuckled. "Later." His hand was still firmly clasped between her own when she laid all three back on the table. "First, we need to discuss whether or not you want the Intersect back in that head of yours."

He frowned. "I don't know. I mean, there are times when I really miss it, and then there are times when I don't even notice I don't have it anymore. Does that make sense?"

"Of course."

"What do you think? Should I download it again?"

Shrugging, she replied, "I'll support you in whatever decision you make."

"I know, sweetheart. But I want to know what you _really_ think about it."

She considered him for a moment, sorting her thoughts. Finally, she nodded once and said, "Okay. First, I'll tell you what I know, then I'll tell you what I think."

"Okay…"

"I know you're smart. You're good at coming up with solutions to problems quickly and they usually turn out pretty well. You can do technology like the übernerd you've always been. You built your dad's computer without the use of the Intersect. I also know that you're sweet and caring and funny."

"Alright, Sarah, number one, I think you're laying it on a bit thick and number two, you have to say those things because you're my wife."

"Chuck, number one, shut up and number two, no I don't," she smirked. "Now, what I think is that you don't need the Intersect to do your job. But if you want it again, I'll support you." Her eyes bored into his. "Either way, it's your decision."

She waited as he mulled her words. "Well, I'll just go without the Intersect then, since my wife thinks I'm so awesome without it," he deadpanned.

She grinned and stood. Pulling at his hand to try to get him to stand, she said, "Okay, genius, now that _that_ decision's been made, let's head upstairs and see what's going on."

He would have none of it as he gave her gentle tug and spun her so that she fell into his lap. "Impressive move, Mr. Bartowski," she said appreciatively, curling her arm around his neck.

"Thank you, Mrs. Bartowski, and I did it all without the Intersect."

She kissed him and then whispered in his ear, "There are other things you can do without the Intersect, too." His low groan prompted her to continue with her seduction, not that she was concerned he would rebuff her advances. Jen's "like rabbits" quip popped into her head and nearly made her giggle. "Everyone else is gone," she murmured, her lips close, but not touching his ear. "We have Castle all to ourselves," she sing-songed the last three words, making him growl even louder.

"Mmmmm, nnnnnnuuuuhhhh." Now he sounded like the monster in _Young Frankenstein_.

"Do you think the supply closet might be a little lonely? We haven't visited it for several days and we don't want it to feel like we don't appreciate it anymore, do we?"

"Uuuunnnn," he replied poetically.

Because she was just that evil, she blew gently into his ear causing him to shudder. Somehow, she managed to pull him up from his chair and dragged him stumbling down the hall behind her. Shoving him into the closet, she kicked the door closed behind her and growled as she advanced on him, "It's good to be home."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was some time later a very happy looking Chuck and Sarah entered the Buy More hand-in-hand. They saw Jen standing, relaxed, by the entrance of the store, arms folded in front of her, leaning against the glass. As they approached, Sarah glanced over her shoulder and followed Jen's line of sight. She saw that Jen was watching Lester, still sporting his new Justin Bieber haircut, happily assisting an elderly woman at the Nerd Herd desk.

"What kind of evil whammy voodoo curse did you put on Lester?" Chuck asked as he watched Lester graciously interacting with the customer.

Jen shrugged and made a face. "Apparently, he just needed the right kind of motivation which his countryman provided."

Sarah gazed around the Buy More, noting that it hardly seemed like the same store she and Chuck had so recently purchased.

"I just had a quick meeting with Morgan and sales are up. Looks like the old Buy More won't be an albatross around your neck after all," Jen said proudly. Her countenance fell, however, when she added, "But I'm concerned about when some of the employees' true natures return. I'll have to come up with something new to try to keep them in line."

"We'll worry about that when the time comes," Chuck responded.

Casey, back from the range, wandered up and stood next to Jen, his blue eyes continuing to watch over the goings on in the store. They all wordlessly greeted him with raised chins.

"So what happens now with your other 'business venture'," Jen asked quietly, "now that Morgan's 'problem' has been taken care of."

Chuck shrugged. "Not sure, exactly. After the stunts Decker and his goons tried to pull when you and Casey went into Langley, Beckman's got his butt in a sling."

"There'll be a formal inquiry into what he's been doing and who he was working for," Sarah continued. "Hopefully, all that will come to light and the mastermind behind this whole mess will be exposed."

"Until then, I suppose we start trying to drum up clients – " Chuck was interrupted by a 'bling' coming from his phone. Reading the text, he smiled and said, "It's from my mom. She just finished cleaning out Volkoff's offices in Moscow and will be bringing home a bunch of his papers and personal belongings." He went to return his phone to his pocket, but it 'blinged' again. His eyebrows scrunched together when he glanced at the screen. "It's a picture." He held up the phone for the other three to see.

"It looks like a lock box," Sarah said.

"Yeah," Chuck replied, turning the phone back so he could read the text that followed. "She wants to know if we know anything about this."

"Why would we?" Sarah asked, clearly confused.

Chuck texted Sarah's question to his mom. A moment later, her response came. "She says she couldn't find a key that fit it. She wanted to know if – " He stopped midsentence, his jaw dropping. Husband and wife looked at each other. "The fish!" they exclaimed together.

"What are you two on about?" Casey asked suspiciously.

Chuck fished his keys from his pocket and held up a small key. "Remember when Sarah and I went up to my dad's cabin and found the schematics for the motherboard of his laptop?"

Casey scowled. "Yeah, and I'm still scarred by the very idea of the denigrating activities you two – "

Jen put a soothing hand on Casey's arm, interrupting him just as he was launching into one of his tirades. "Yes, we remember," Jen answered diplomatically.

Sarah hid a smile behind her fingers and Chuck cleared his throat. "Well, when we were at Dad's cabin, we came across this key in the mouth of a stuffed fish mounted on the wall."

Jen's eyes narrowed. "Why were you paying such close attention to a fish mou – "

Sarah blushed. Chuck stood with his mouth open, speechless.

Casey groaned in disgust. "With a mounted fish?"

"Ew, Casey!" Chuck said. "No! There was something Sarah – "

"Chuck!"

Jen held up her hand to stop the infinite loop of misunderstandings and potential perversions. "You found a key."

"Yes."

"And you think it might open the lock box your mom just found?" Jen asked.

"Well, yeah. My dad and Harley were friends. It would make sense that my dad might have a key to something of Harley's."

"But this was Volkoff's stuff, not Harley's," Jen pointed out. "He would have had to give the key to your dad before he uploaded the Intersect and became Volkoff, right?"

Chuck thought for a moment and then answered, "Not necessarily. My mom was undercover with Volkoff for years. We don't really know how often she and my dad were in contact with each other during that time."

"So it could be the key to the lockbox… nor not," Casey reasoned.

Chuck held the key up a little higher and they all stared at it. "Huh," they said simultaneously.

A commotion at the Nerd Herd desk broke the spell the key had put them under. For some reason, from the waist up, Jeff was wearing nothing but his tie and rubbing his Buddha-like belly. Lester, his hair suddenly sticking out everywhere, was yelling at the woman he had been helping only minutes before.

"Well, it was nice while it lasted," Chuck sighed. Sarah only chuckled and shook her head.

Casey was hot on Jen's heels as she stormed off toward Jeff and Lester, growling as she stalked, "Where'd I put my whip?"


End file.
